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Tallying all three of its goals at the front of the net, the Middletown High boys soccer team defeated North Hagerstown High 3-1, in Thursday evening's first round of the Class 2A West Region playoffs.

The No. 5 seeded Knights will travel to No. 4 Liberty of Carroll County Tuesday in the region quarterfinals.

Consistently working the ball deep within the Hubs interior, Middletown (10-3-2) dominated the opening minutes of play and took a 1-0 lead when junior forward Luke Welch punched in a perfectly placed cross from senior forward Daniel de la Riva three feet from goal less then 10 minutes into the contest.

"One thing we really wanted to concentrate on was to go forward as quickly as we could," Middletown head coach Bob Sheffler said. "It meant a lot for us to get in there early."

No. 12 North (11-5) knotted the match at 1-1 off a strike from senior striker Nelson Moreno with seven minutes left in the half.

Taking a feed from Welch, senior midfielder Ryan Hohl unleashed a line drive which ricocheted off North junior keeper Caleb Mittel with less than six minutes remaining before halftime. Collecting his own rebound, Hohl drove home what would end up being the game-winner approximately two feet from the goal line.

With just more than 13 minutes remaining in regulation, de la Riva and senior fullback Matt Donald combined for an insurance score. Lining up 20 yards out, Donald delivered a direct kick five feet from the center of the North net, which de la Riva headed in for the final tally.

Of Middletown's three scores, none was more significant that Hohl's. It allowed the Knights to regain their composure as they increased the pressure on the Hubs' net with pinpoint passes and runs into the penalty box.

"We really needed it to get up on them before halftime," Hohl said.

Sheffler has actually been pleading with his players to take more outside chances, as he recently assessed his team as being too preoccupied with maintaining possession of the ball, sometimes passing up promising shots in favor of delivering extra passes.

Though many of their 19 shots were from 15 yards away or more, working the ball inside closer to the goal proved successful for the visitors.

Sophomore goalkeeper Shane Falcinelli was solid for Middletown, recording two saves and controlling the penalty box.

Next Tuesday will be the Knights second visit to Liberty in less that a month. On Oct. 12, the Lions embarrassed Middletown 5-1. The loss still stings.

"We're looking forward to seeing them a lot," Hohl said. "We not a 5-1 loss team."