Ephrata blanked by top-ranked Falcons
- 26 October 2006
First-year Ephrata field hockey Coach Candy Rosenberry entered this season not knowing quite what to expect from such a young team that had just two senior starters.Well, as darkness fell Tuesday night in Hummelstown, shortly after her Ephrata squad saw its season come to a close with a 6-0 loss in the first round of Districts to Mid-Penn power Lower Dauphin, Rosenberry said she considers this season a huge success.
"Playing (Lower Dauphin) in the first round was harsh for us, but again we were just happy to be here this year. (Playing in Districts) is not where we thought we'd be so we're just happy to be here."
"Just to get a taste of this experience this year, just to show the girls where we can be ... They know they definitely have the potential to be there next year. My expectations are going to be a lot higher next year."
Tuesday, it was all about the experience for the Lady Mounts as Lower Dauphin flexed its muscles from the opening flick.
LD (22-0) was led by Lauren Alwine, who scored three goals and added an assist while Addi Harder chipped in with two other scores.
Alwine, whose supreme speed and stick-work were extremely effective in this game, got the Falcons on the board seven minutes in when she came down the right side and moved out in front and around Ephrata keeper Katie Jo Rice (five saves) for the easy score.
Then at the 18:02 mark, Alwine was at it again, following solid execution on a corner. Alwine delivered the ball into the box and moved to the side of the cage, where she took a feed and redirected it past Rice for the 2-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Harder got in on the act, off another corner as she batted an Alwine shot out of midair into the cage to make it 3-0 heading to the half.
In the second, it was more of the same early on as Alwine completed her hat trick and Harder got her second before Julie Barton finished the scoring for LD after yet another corner.
"I knew they were that skilled coming in," Rosenberry said of the Falcons. "I pretty much expected that. But hey, we had shots and we got corners ant that to me is a victory against a team like this."
"I'm familiar with them because my daughter played with them on club plus my sister-in-law coached there alongside Coach (Linda) Kreiser so I knew the players. I knew we had our hands full. She does such a great job teaching them great skill, ball handling ... They play that small passing game and there aren't too many teams that play that way anymore. They were like a machine."
Ephrata, which did generate two shots and a pair of corners, had its best chance to score with 5:10 to go when Arielle Gordon got behind the LD defense and fired a nice hard shot on keeper Lindsay Shaffer, who made the toe save.
The top-ranked Falcons will now advance to Saturday's second round where they will face Daniel Boone, a 1-0 winner over Hempfield Tuesday.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.