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Mounts drop crucial game
- 03 October 2005
It's been said — or is that sung? — that you can get by with a little help from your friends.Monday afternoon, Lindsay Doutt was singing a happy tune when she found out that you also can get by with a little help from your foes.
Doutt, Lampeter-Strasburg's junior forward, netted a pair of goals to lift the host Pioneers over Ephrata 3-0 in L-L League field hockey action.
Lisa Charles added the final score for L-S (6-2-1, 19 points), which stands in second place in Section Two behind front-runner Cocalico (7-1-0, 21) with four league playing dates remaining. Ephrata (5-4-0, 15) dropped into fourth behind Conestoga Valley (5-1-2, 17). Only the top three teams qualify for the league playoffs.
It was on Doutt's first score — 6:55 into the second half — that she showed some imagination and benefited from a little luck.
"We had a nice 2-v-1 (two on one) on the goalie, and I was just trying to pass it to Jamie (Doughty),'' Doutt said. Doutt's pass never found Doughty's stick.
Ephrata's Jenna Garber (26) and the Pioneers' Jess Charles, left, look to contest
an airborne ball. Charles would later score for Lampeter-Strasburg.
© Dan Marschka / Intelligencer Journal
Instead, it ricocheted off an Ephrata defender's stick and right back to Doutt, who tapped it into the cage. In essence, Doutt got the assist on her own goal.
"No, I didn't try it that way,'' Doutt said. However, she wasn't about to give back that goal.
"It was an awesome play by her,'' L-S first-year head coach Cassie Thorius said of Doutt. "She was looking for the give-and-go (with Doughty). Then, she just made it (the goal) happen.''
The outcome was in stark contrast to the first meeting between these teams when the Mounts (10-6-1 overall) overcame a 4-1 deficit to knock off L-S (11-2-1) 5-4 in overtime Sept. 15 in Ephrata.
"Our defense fell apart last time,'' Thorius said. "We just had a mental breakdown.
The most noticeable adjustment was the Pioneers' switch to a "small ball" game, in which passes went player-to-player. Previously, L-S was caught up in more of a hit-and-run style, in which the ball was blasted out of the backfield and players tried to run it down.
"That's not my style and not what I try and teach,'' Thorius said. After the break, "We finally got composure in the circle on offense, and we started hitting our passes.''
"We were just more relaxed,'' Doutt said. "We're just working really well together.''
That togetherness resulted in a second goal by Doutt, with Doughty getting the assist this time, with 17:36 left to play. Charles then iced the game with an assist from Lauren McHale off a penalty corner six minutes later.
The Mounts, on the other hand, seemed confused at times within their offensive circle.
"We're just not finishing (our chances),'' said Ephrata coach Heather Weinhold. "You can't pull out the close wins if you can't put it all together.''
Conversely, the Pioneers have been on quite a roll lately. Last Thursday they handed visiting Cocalico its first league loss of the year, 2-1. The Eagles won the first meeting, 2-1, Sept. 9 in Denver.
"That win boost up our confidence a lot,'' Doutt said of clipping the Eagles. "Our goal now is to shoot up there (in the standings) and get (to the postseason).''
"I hope this is a turning point for L-S hockey,'' Thorius said. "I knew from the beginning that we'd be a good team, but I didn't know how it would all pull together.''
The Pioneers haven't had a winning field hockey record in more than 20 years, according to the coach.
"They just needed some direction,'' she said of her team. "We're just not used to winning, but they're getting used to it now.''
For these close-knit pioneering ladies, that's put a song in their hearts and is music to their ears.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.