Mounts handle Bears

Mike Tyson loved to say, “Everybody’s got a plan, until they get punched in the mouth.”

Ephrata punched Elizabethtown in the mouth — figuratively — scoring 37 seconds into Tuesday night’s match at Jane Hoover Field.

It was the first of three first-half goals as the defending L-L Section Two girls soccer champion Mountaineers (3-0 league, 7-0 overall) outpaced the host Bears 5-1.

“I knew it was going to be a battle tonight,” Bears coach Brian Ressler said. “They’re a very strong team. They’ve been together for a while.”

One of those veterans, senior attacking center midfielder Maddie Root, brought the ball down the left side and into the box off the opening tap, crossing to the far post.

“Honestly, I was just thinking I have to get a touch on this ball,” Root said.

“If I could get it in the goal, that’s fine, as long as someone gets there. “

Reagan McCarty got there to tap it home and the Mounts were off to the races.

Root had the assist hat trick in the half as Abby Wiest converted Root’s square pass from 20 yards out in the 27th minute and her right-to-left cross to Olivia Myers in the slot opened a 3-0 lead 3:23 before halftime.

“She seems to make the correct play, and she did it multiple times tonight,” Mounts coach Wes Deininger said. “She made the game look easy at times.”

The Mounts played dangerous the entire half as Root, Wiest, Annie Slovak Rosa Saenz and Mya Mahlandt bedeviled the Bears defense.

“We just build from the back, through the center and once we get a 2-v-1, we attack as much as we can,” Root said.

The Bears (1-1-1, 2-5-1) fashioned four scoring opportunities in the first 18 minutes of the second half, without finding the back of the net, then Root went from quarterback to receiver.

On a ball from Wiest, Root carried into the attacking third, walking it into the 6-yard keeper’s box before drilling it home.

E-town got on the board in the 63rd minute when Olivia Anson was taken down in the box and Kaelyn Sheetz converted the penalty kick.

Saenz capped the scoring eight minutes later, bodying McCarty’s corner kick service home.

Seven games into the season, the Mounts have the look of a team that’s going to be around for a while.

“I feel like there’s a lot of things coming together each game,” Deininger said. “I think they don’t even realize how good we could be.

“There’s lots of room for growth, lots of challenges ahead.”

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