Mounts and Simmons hold back CV
- 04 September 2008
If Tuesday night's Section Two soccer game between Conestoga Valley and Ephrata was any indication of what this season is going to be like, local fans are in for quite a wild ride.Fans in attendance were treated to an early classic on the Ephrata War Memorial Field pitch Tuesday as CV and Ephrata were in mid-season form as both opened the regular and Section Two seasons.
In a battle that certainly was filled with intensity and plenty of dramatics, Ephrata withstood a furious Buckskin attack in the second half to hold off CV for a 1-0 victory.
Mike Hull scored the lone goal of the game for the Mounts, while CV fired 10 shots on Ephrata keeper Brett Simmons, who stood tall in goal by turning away every shot.
In the end, it was a well-earned victory for the home team and Coach Deininger.
"We've been playing these guys for how long now, the last 13, 14 years, and it's always cut-throat, back and forth.... Sometimes we've had the edge and other times they've had it," Deininger said. "Although I'd have to watch the tape, it appeared they had the edge on us. In the second half they were winning balls, and they were winning tackles. They put some pressure on us. We had a couple opportunities but the second half was more them."
And even more Simmons, who was peppered early and often in the second half. CV pushed up in the last 10 minutes or so, and finally appeared to score the tying goal with about two minutes to play off of a rebound in front of the goal. However, the potential equalizer was called off because it was ruled Simmons had possession of the ball prior to it being kicked in.
"The official said Brett had the ball, that he was on top of it and the guy came from underneath and hit it," Deininger said.
That turned out to be the final solid scoring chance the Buckskins had as the Mounts improved to 1-0 on the season.
Deininger praised his goal-tender's effort in the victory.
"Brett is a cornerstone for us this year," he said. "He filled in for us last year at the end and he's just stayed right with it. I'd be surprised if there were too many goalies, not only in the section but the whole league that are as talented as Brett. He gets to a lot of balls other guys can't. He's athletic and needless to say, he kept us in it."
While Simmons may have been the difference Tuesday, the Mounts did get just enough offense. The lone goal of the game came with 7:51 to go in the first half as Hull was Johnny-On-The-Spot.
Off a corner, Alec Weaver sent it in on goal. The ball was fumbled momentarily by Buckskins' keeper Hoffman and Hull got just enough of it to get it over the goal line.
"Alec crossed it and it was kind of banging around and Hully was lucky enough to get a foot on it and direct it in the corner and gave us what we needed," Deininger said of the score.
In addition to the late CV goal that was disallowed, the Buckskins thought they scored about four minutes prior to Hull's goal, but an offsides call nullified that tally.
Ephrata, the four-time section champion, was outshot 10-6 and out-cornered 9-2. However, the Mounts did get the win, and that was the bottom line for Deininger.
"(CV) and E-town are supposed to be the top dogs this year (in Section Two)," Deininger said. "We didn't want (the section) to disappear on our own field so we gutted it out, played tough our first game and were very fortunate to come out on top.
"It was the first night out and the object for us was to play well, which we did in spots. Other spots we have to work on. The object was to win and we were fortunate to do that."
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.