Mounts defeat Trojans

Junior Abigail Weist’s second goal of the game with 26 seconds to play lifted the Ephrata Mountaineers out of the pressure cooker and into the second round of the District Three Class 4A girls soccer playoffs.

The 3-1 victory over visiting Chambersburg wasn’t easy or pretty, and it definitely didn’t happen like they drew it up, but it did earn the fourth-seeded Mounts (17-2-1) a quarterfinal playoff date with No. 12 Carlisle Saturday night at Mountaineer Field. Carlisle beat Red Lion 3-1.

Until Weist’s goal, the decision was in doubt as the Trojans (9-10), who lost the majority of 50-50 balls while falling behind 2-0 in the first half, were now winning those battles and creating space for their dangerous forward Gabby Lecuona.

“Yeah, that was huge relief,” said Weist of her goal, which came on an assist from Reagan Mc-Carty.

Weist also scored from just inside the box with 17:54 to play in the first half to give the Mounts a two-goal lead.

“We seem to always in the second half reach a point where we don’t do the things we had been doing. That’s something we really need to work on,” Weist added.

Trailing 2-0, the Trojans made use of the space they were being given by the Mounts to apply pressure. After being robbed by Mounts’ keeper Jocelyn Umana seven minutes into the second half, Lecuona raced 30 yards down the middle of the field with the ball and cut the Mounts’ lead to 2-1 with a left-footed blast from 20 yards out with 24:52 to play.

Minutes later, Umana saved a tying bid on a free kick when she leaped and punched the ball over the net.

The Mounts settled back into their game in the later stages of the second half and kept the 13th-seeded Trojans out of the box.

“Hey, it’s playoff soccer. It’s always going to be testy,” said Mounts coach Wes Deininger.

Madison Root opened the scoring 11:26 into the first half with a leftfooted blast into the right corner of the net. Root received a short pass from McCarty, who had won a long throw-in from Carly Holochuck.

After Umana denied a tying bid in close by the Trojans’ Hannah Foschia, Weist scored her first goal while being nearly pulled down from behind.

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