Lady Mounts bow out of States

There hadn’t been a corner kick all game. So, when Central Bucks East found itself with three in succession with just under 17 minutes remaining and the scored tied in its PIAA Class AAA first-round girls soccer game, it knew the opportunity had arrived to win the game.

And the Patriots did just that, as Paige Weiss’ third corner in 30 seconds was knocked back and forth in front of the goal, and teammate Maddie Myrtetus finished it off for the game-winner.

East held on to defeat District Three’s Ephrata 2-1 at William Tennent on Tuesday night, and advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinal round.

It didn’t start out as the Patriots’ most inspired performance. “We did come out flat tonight, and I take full responsibility for that,” Patriot coach Paul Eisold said. “I did not feel that I prepared them well enough for the type of game that we were going into.”

Despite a slow start, the Patriots took a 1-0 lead into halftime, the result of a goal by Kristen Murphy (Emma Loving assist).

“We really talked to the girls about the importance of being able to get that second goal,” Eisold said. “If you don’t really focus and concentrate, the game could slip away.

“Sure enough, they scored an absolutely brilliant goal, and it was 1-1."

Jenna Yarger (Taylor Moore assist) scored in the 44th minute for the Mountaineers, and 20 minutes later, Myrtetus connected for a goal that turned out to be the game winner.

"We had to work extremely hard and fight back to put that other goal in, which we did." Eisold remarked of the go-ahead corner kick goal.

“We practice them every day in practice,” Weiss said. “Over and over again, one after another every day. We knew we had to take advantage of the opportunity right there.”

Myrtetus said she was the fourth player to touch the ball in the goal sequence.

“One of our sophomores Hannah Zach headed it in,” Myrtetus said. “Then, a freshman, Kate Schlotter, had a nice touch to me. I think it hit four players. It was really a team goal.”

It also gave the Patriots the advantage in a game that was a little sluggish to that point.

“I felt our intensity was a little bit low tonight,” Eisold said. “I felt we were the better team and had better opportunities, but once again, if you don’t finish your opportunities that are presented to you and you let a team get back into the game, it becomes more and more difficult.

“The good news was we sustained the pressure, we worked out of it, and the bottom line is we got the win, and we move on to the quarterfinals.”

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