CV comes back, ties Mounts
- 08 October 2009
As they sat on the visiting team's bench when it was finally over Wednesday night, the mutual respect that Conestoga Valley boys' soccer coach Dave Hartlaub and Ephrata coach Rob Deininger have for one another -- and one another's programs -- was obvious.And completely understandable, considering all the epic battles their respective teams have been through in what is one of the Lancaster-Lebanon League's deepest soccer rivalries.
Wednesday night's clash was just another case in point.
Despite taking a 2-0 lead with 11:11 remaining in the first half at Ephrata's windswept War Memorial Field, the Mountaineers watched Conestoga Valley claw its way back in the second half to secure a 2-2 double-overtime tie with the Mountaineers in a battle of Section Two frontrunners.
"It's like any sporting event, it's a game of inches," Hartlaub said afterward. "It's a little play here, a little play there (that makes the difference in the end). It was a great high school soccer game."
This one, perhaps, turned out even better for CV, which lost a 1-0 decision to Ephrata the first time the two teams met in their Section Two opener on Sept. 8.
Wednesday's tie allowed the Buckskins (10-2 L-L, 12-2 overall) to keep a seven-point lead over Ephrata in the section standings with four regular season games remaining.
Should CV win at least two of its remaining four section games, it would clinch its second straight section crown.
Meanwhile, while the tie put a large dent in Ephrata's section title hopes, the second-place Mountaineers (6-3-3, 8-3-3) got a touch of good news Wednesday when Elizabethtown (4-5-3, 4-5-3) and Garden Spot (3-5-4, 3-5-6) battled to a 0-0 tie.
Should Ephrata win three of its last four regular-season games, it would clinch Section Two's second and final berth for the L-L playoffs.
Not that Deininger is counting his chickens just yet.
"Everybody still has four games to go," he said, "so we'll roll it out there again Friday (at E-town). "Every time we play we're going to try to do the best we can."
Getting to play with a whipping wind at its back in the first half, Ephrata did its best work in the first 30 minutes of Wednesday's match.
After junior forward Nate Latshaw connected on a perfectly-placed blast to give Ephrata a 1-0 lead 5:02 into the game, Latshaw doubled the Mounts' advantage when he volleyed in a right side feed from senior forward Patrick Homan with 11:11 left until the break.
Still, perhaps the biggest goal of the first half came compliments of CV senior midfielder Matt Coleman, who took a rolling feed into the box from Josiah Groff and beat Ephrata goalie Brooks Carr (10 saves) to make it 2-1 with 8:56 left before halftime.
Better news for CV was that it would soon get to be playing with the wind.
"With the wind (factor in the second half), you knew, to hold on for 40 minutes without giving up a goal, was going to be difficult," Deininger said.
The Buckskins eventually got the equalizer 12:12 into the second half, when Groff collected a deflection and snuck a rolling blast under the body of Carr.
In all, CV dominated after the break, building a combined 16-2 shot advantage and creating 12 scoring chances to Ephrata's one in the second half and the two overtime periods.
But for Carr's efforts, the Bucks might have a few more.
In fact, after a botched Ephrata defensive clear with six seconds left in the second OT, CV had an open shot muffled on the goal line by Carr at the buzzer.
"The kids played their hearts out," Deininger said.
Both sides usually do in this matchup.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.