Ephrata takes Warwick to OT in Round One
- 15 October 2006
No one gave Ephrata much of a chance coming into Saturday's L-L quarterfinal showdown with Warwick, a team that has won seven titles in nine years and is the odds-on favorite to repeat as champs.Perhaps the only ones who did believe Ephrata ha a chance Saturday at Hempfield were the lady Mounts themselves. And as it turned out, that almost was enough.
For 60 minutes and change, the Lady Mounts played even with the Warriors, as both teams had opportunities to seize control but failed to do so.
Then after the game went to overtime scoreless, Ephrata keeper Katie Jo Rice pushed hte game on farther when she stopped a penalty stroke opportunity by Warwick's Steph Kratzer.
Katie Jo Rice made nine saves for the Lady Mounts against Warwick.
Photo courtesy of Andy Babin.
Unfortunately for Ephrata, its dreams of a monumental upset ended less than a minute later when the Warriors' Becca Spengler one-timed a pass from Brynn Adams off a free hit and put it in the cage for the gamewiner and the 1-0 victory.
With the win, Warwick (17-1-2) advanced to Wednesday's semifinal round where they will face Hempfield a 2-1 victor over Lancaster Mennonite.
Ephrata (8-9) now will be idle until Friday when the Lady Mounts enter the District Three Tournament with a play-in game. The Lady Mounts, the 17th seed, travel to 15th seeded Cumberland Valley Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Despite the loss to Warwick, Ephrata Coach Candy Rosenberry said afterward that she was proud of the effort put forth by her young team Saturday.
While Warwick did hold the statistical edge with 11 corners to Ephrata's five while outshoooting the Lady Mounts, 10-0, the underdogs wouldn't go awya. In fact, Ephrata hat tow of the better scoring opportunities in the game.
Late in the first half, a cross through the goal mouth hopped just over the stick of Kelly Martin, who was perched on the doorstep for a potential tap-in.
Then, early in overtime, Ephrata forced two straight corners, getting off a good shot on the latter that just went wide.
But despite those chances, Ephrata did have a hard time getting the ball in the circle to generate shots.
"We weren't getting into the circle," Rosenberry said. "we were working on keeping it out to the sides and we had a hard time getting it across and bringing it in. That was the game plan coming in, to keep it out on the sides and keep the play out of the middle.
"(Warwick)'s strength is down the center of the field, so we knew we had to keep it wide before we worked it into the circle. Then they were keeping us off and we couldn't get across."
Asked if they made any adjustments at halftime to try to get some shots on goal, Rosenberry said, "We just told them that once you hit a certain yard line, you need to start cutting it toward the circle. And when you get closer, fire it. Put it on the pads, put it to the stroke."
Rice finished with nine saves in a terrific effort for a team that will graduate just two seniors.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.