Red-Hot Mounts win 11th Straight

Yes, the Lampeter-Strasburg girls soccer team is on a hot streak — the Pioneers won their sixth straight match Thursday with a 2-1 victory over Manheim Central.

And that win pulled L-S into a tie with the Barons for second place in Section Two of the Lancaster-Lebanon League.

However, Ephrata is en fuego.

The Lady Mountaineers won their 11th straight match Thursday, defeating host Cocalico 2-0 to further solidify their hold on first place in the section.

“We haven’t said a word about (the streak),” head coach Wes Deininger shared, adding, “I don’t know that there’s necessarily a reason why we have or haven’t. It just hasn’t come up.”

The Mounts (9-0 league, 11-1 overall) haven’t lost since a season-opening, 3-2 verdict to Berks I leader Wilson (10-2).

“I think we let one get away there, actually,” Deininger said. “Maybe that actually helped us. It showed us how good we can be.

“We knew we had the potential,” junior center midfielder Maddie Root said. “But we had to put the work in to do it.”

The Mounts put the work in Thursday, from the jump, dominating the first 20 minutes on the scoresheet, if not the scoreboard.

“We had a bunch of chances we should’ve put away,” Root observed.

Including a four-minute spurt that saw the Mounts with five shots on goal and four corner kicks, capped by Cocalico freshman keeper Adrienne McGallicher plucking Reagan McCarty’s service off the head of Annie Slovak at the near post.

Slovak, the Section Two scoring leader, was in the middle of the action all night,with three dangerous crosses and four shots on goal.

Ten minutes after that flurry, the Mounts flipped the zero to one on their side of the scoreboard as Abby Weist finished Root’s feed with a laser from the top of the circle.

“Annie came down the side, found me (on a) through (ball),” said Root, the section’s No. 2 scorer.

“I one-touched to Abby and she did a good job of making that turn and finishing.”

“They’re great players,” Deininger said of Slovak, Root and Weist. “They combine well and put themselves in great positions.”

Playing into a stiff and steady wind out of the north in the first half, the Eagles (4-4-1, 4-5-2) began to get untracked with 13 minutes left in the half.

Paxton Steffy sent a sweet cross intended for Kaia Martz. Mounts keeper Jocelyn Umana covered the cross before it arrived to Martz.

With the wind the Eagles held their own the first seven minutes of the second half, but Ephrata reasserted itself over the next 10 minutes. With just over 22 minutes to play, Slovak possessed a loose ball just over midfield, dribbling down the left slot.

As she crossed into the box, she took a slight cut, then fired the ball just inside the left post for insurance, past the diving save attempt of McGallicher.

Deininger allowed that there’s a lot that goes into any sort of win streak.

“Finishing your opportunities,” he said, “limiting the opportunities for the other team.

“You need a little luck. You need somebody, that usually doesn’t, to step up and score a goal.

“We’ve been able to find those things in different matches,” he continued. “We have to keep digging in and make sure we get results.”

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