Ephrata claims section title
- 10 October 2007
ETMCT...We ATC!That was the text message, or something close to that, that Ephrata field hockey Coach Candy Rosenberry relayed to her team last Wednesday night as the girls waited anxiously for the news while attending a Mountaineer soccer game. Translation- E-town and Manheim Central tied...We are the champions!
By virtue of Ephrata's 3-2 victory over L-S earlier that day, and Manheim's 0-0 draw with the Bears, the Lady Mounts officially clinched their first Section Two title under Rosenberry, and the second-year Coach delivered the good news electronically.
"They were texting me, 'Did you hear anything yet? What was the score of the game?' "That's how they found out but they were all together so that was really cool," Rosenberry said Tuesday.
"(Winning the section title) was our number one goal this year," she continued. "We started with three goals but that was the first one so it's good to get that."
Asked what she was feeling when she found out, she said, "I had goose bumps. It's neat to be there in only my second year, and to have these group of girls experience that, a great group of seniors who all wanted the same thing, is pretty special. That was neat."
Ephrata (10-1-0), which added a 1-0 win Monday at Garden Spot and will close the regular season Wednesday afternoon at Cocalico, will enter Saturday's opening round of the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs as the top seed from Section Two. The Lady Mounts, who have also qualified for Districts, will face the third seed from Section One, either Hempfield (8-4-0) or Conestoga Valley (8-4-0), at Penn Manor (11:30 a.m.) in Round One.
The winner of that game will face the Penn Manor-Manheim Central survivor in Tuesday's semifinals at Manheim Central. The finals are slated for Thursday, 7 p.m. at Pequea Valley.
Asked what her team's goals and expectations are for the post-season, Rosenberry said they'll focus on each game at hand and take it from there.
"Step two is leagues," she said. "It's just basically taking it game by game. We want to end (Wednesday vs. Cocalico) with a strong effort. We talked about that. Yeah we clinched the title with a week-and-a-half to go, but we want to win the section because of what we did and not because of what everybody else didn't do. Now, Leagues is the second step, but it doesn't stop there. "
Ephrata has not faced either Hempfield or CV this year, and has played limited games on turf which is the surface that will be used for all of the L-L games.
Despite all of that, Rosenberry believes her team will have a smooth transition.
"I actually think it's easier for us to come from grass to turf because enough of my girls play off season and they get experience on the turf. I think it's easier for us than it is for the turf teams to come to my bumpy grass. They are not used to reacting to the jump of the ball. I think it fits us OK. It usually takes us a little while to fit in and realize how you have to play. We'll just go in there and try to control from the beginning. The key for us is to set the tone and we've been struggling with that the last couple of games. We'll see how it goes."
Getting back to this past week's action, Ephrata took a 3-0 lead against the Pioneers last Wednesday before holding on for the 3-2 win. Kilee Rosenberry scored a pair of first-half goals while Kendall Fletcher scored what turned out to be the game-winner midway through the second half.
Monday afternoon, the Lady Mounts relied on Fletcher again, who scored the game's lone tally early in the second half on an unassisted goal. Goalkeeper Sammy Wilt turned back all three Spartan shots for the shutout victory in goal.
Ephrata also battled Oley Valley to a 1-1 tie in a non-league game played Friday in Berks County. In that one, Emily Beamesderfer gave Ephrata a 1-0 lead in the first half off an assist from Fletcher, but the Lynx tied it up on Lyndsay Fry's goal midway through the second half.
For the game, Oley out-shot the Lady Mounts, 14-10 and held a 13-8 advantage in corners. Wilt and Kristin Orwig combined to make 13 saves and earn the well-deserved tie.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.