Mounts take shutout route to semis
- 17 October 2006
Revenge is dish best served cold — and what better time to seek it than on a cold, rainy night with advancement in the L-L League soccer playoffs on the line?In their quest to earn a return trip to L-L finals and avenge a 5-3 loss to Manheim Township last season, Ephrata dominated Lampeter-Strasburg with a 5-0 victory in Tuesday night’s L-L quarterfinal opener at Township.
In the second contest at Township, Lancaster Mennonite (13-2-2) got revenge on Warwick (13-5), which handed the Blazers a 3-0 defeat earlier this season, with a 1-0 victory.
With the win Mennonite will take on Ephrata Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. at Hempfield , followed by Manheim Central against Manheim Township.
Last year’s L-L League runners-up Ephrata (15-2-2) gave notice of intentions to score early and often when Alex Wilson scored on a pass from C.J. Wilson just 2:35 into the game.
The quick start was important for the Mounts to get settled in against an opponent they hadn’t played before.
“It’s always important to to start fast,” says Ephrata head coach Rob Deininger. “To put pressure on a team that you haven’t seen before.”
Senior Dan Hagey raised the pressure a bit more when he scored back-to-back goals to give his team an early 3-0 lead. His first goal was 7:07 into the game while his second was on a pass from sophomore Tyler Phillips, giving Hagey his 24th goal on the season.
“Dan’s a player,” Deininger said with a smile. “He has all the tools to play Divsion I soccer; speed, skills and intelligence.
He’s a force. I’m glad he’s on my team.”
Lampeter-Strasburg (13-5-1) managed just five shots on goal against junior Josh Peifer. The Pioneers’ closest scoring opportunity came when Zech Rowe’s shot missed by inches in the first half.
Making just their first trip to the playoffs since 1996, the Pioneers’ nerves might have gotten the best of them against a seasoned team like Ephrata.
“It helps a lot,” Hagey said of his team’s postseason experience.
“I think this was L-S’s second year here, you could tell they were a little nervous and we were comfortable.”
The Mounts started the second half the same way the began the first. Devon Williams scored only 4:51 into the half on a kick the just snuck by Dakota Palmer.
Jeremy Yoder’s 25-yard arching kick found the top right corner to give Ephrata its ninth straight victory and added to their confidence.
“We’ve won nine in a row now and I was hoping that we would just continue to do it,” Deininger said. “We were pretty confident that we would do our thing.”
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.