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Home Fall Sports Girls Soccer Mounts feature triple threat

Mounts feature triple threat

03 May 2007
Written by Jeffrey Reinhart - Lancaster New Era
ImageSometimes the best defense is a good offense.

And when it comes to an attacking, high-powered offense, no Lancaster-Lebanon League girls soccer team has found the back of the net more this spring than Ephrata, which has scored a league-high 48 goals heading into the final few days of the regular season. 

And the Mountaineers can thank a trio of net-seeking ball-hawkers for this season's offensive explosion:

  • Junior center-midfielder Leah Sipe has 10 goals and 11 assists for a Section 2-best 31 points.
  • Sophomore striker Aly Goodman has 11 goals and six assists for 28 points — third in the section.
  • Senior striker Arielle Gordon, a Lock Haven University recruit, has eight goals and 10 assists for 26 points — fourth in the section.
For you stat geeks, goals are worth two points and assists one point when tabulating soccer scoring leaders."We like putting the ball in the back of the net," Gordon said. "I think we score so many goals because we work well as a team. We enjoy sharing the ball."

Ephrata is really good at that thanks to coach Chris Dutton's attack-first system.

When the Mountaineers gain possession, his defenders — led by senior sweeper Jess Cox and whippersnapper middies Emily Beamesderfer, a sophomore, and freshman Abby Radcliffe — start the attack by getting the ball to midfield, then finding Sipe, who usually sets up the offense.

Goodman and Gordon have been a handful at the top of the box, and Sipe has scored more goals than usual for a center-mid because often times she'll switch with Gordon at the top of the box to surprise defenders.

"Our focus is winning the ball in the midfield and setting up our attack," Dutton said. "Momentum toward the other team's goal is what we strive for. So the best defense can be a good attack."

 

 Image

Ephrata's (from left) Leah Sipe, Arielle Gordon and Aly Goodman.
© Photo courtesy of Andrew P. Blackburn, New Era


And attack Ephrata does. Rush after mesmerizing rush. And the Mountaineers have put up all of those goals without a key cog on their offense. Senior midfielder Melissa Speros, a University of Tennessee recruit, has been playing for her club team and did not come out for the high school team this spring.

So Ephrata could be even scarier if you think about it.

"We just have this connection," Goodman said. "When we're working well together out there, we make things happen. We just love sharing the ball.

"Other teams usually have like one player who scores most of the goals. When we go on the attack, we feel like we can pass the ball to just about anybody and we're going to score goals."

Sipe, Goodman and Gordon have combined for 29 goals and 27 assists. Those are gaudy numbers. But has that fearsome threesome stopped to admire their stats?

"Nah," Sipe said. "We just go out and keep playing. It's not about individual stats. It's about the team winning. That's all we care about. All the goals are nice. But it's frustrating because we're not leading our section."

Elizabethtown (12-1) is alone in first place in Section 2, one game ahead of Ephrata (11-2). The Bears and the Mountaineers split their regular-season series — Ephrata won 2-1 at E-town on April 19, and E-town won 3-2 Friday in Ephrata — and they each have one league game to go.

Today, E-town is hosting Manheim Central, while Ephrata is at home against Lebanon.

If Ephrata wins and Central knocks off E-town, Ephrata and E-town would be tied for first.

Either way, Ephrata and E-town have clinched spots in the L-L League playoffs, which begin with pigtail games on Saturday, followed by the quarterfinals next Tuesday, the semifinals on Thursday, and the championship game a week from Saturday.

With Sipe, Goodman and Gordon, Ephrata certainly has enough firepower to scare the living daylights out of the usual suspects.

"We want to show everyone how good we are and that we really can do this," Gordon said. "We also know that we're going to need a strong defense. Our defenders will have to play their A game."

When your team scores 48 goals and is in the chase for a section championship, often times the defense will get overlooked. That's not the case with the Mountaineers.

"Our defense has done an excellent job," Gordon was quick to point out. "I think they get overlooked a lot, but they deserve a lot of credit."

As do Sipe, Goodman and Gordon, who have spent this spring making opposing goalies quake and shake in their spikes.

But the true test will come in the playoffs.

"It's going to be tough," Goodman said. "But I think we'll be OK in the playoffs because we have experienced goal-scorers."

Tough to argue with that.