Knights bounce Mounts

It’s one of the theorems of geometry, if A equals B and B equals C, then A must equal C.

Which held true Tuesday evening in the semifinals of the Lancaster-Lebanon League girls soccer playoffs.

Last Wednesday, Cocalico defeated Ephrata 3-0 in a non-league match 3-0. Saturday, Hempfield bested Cocalico, albeit in penalty kicks after 110 scoreless minutes. So it would be logical to assume, when they met, Hempfield would defeat Ephrata.

If this was geometry.

Since it was soccer, and playoff soccer at that, you can throw all the theorems out the window. And catch them on the way down, because this time, the theorem held.

Kat Morgan scored with 1:53 before halftime and the Black Knights (13-2-2) zealously defended that one-goal advantage to defeat Ephrata 1-0. With the win, the Knights advance to the league title game for the first time since 2014.

They will meet Manheim Township Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Warwick. Township defeated Pequea Valley 8-0 in Tuesday’s other semifinal.

The key to Hempfield’s victory could be found in the midfield. As they did Saturday against the Eagles, the Knight set the pace in the midfield, winning 50/50 balls, filtering the attack through and denying the Mountaineers (12-5-1) opportunities.

“Our mindset going into the game was 50/50s in the middle,” said Mya Trow-bridge. “If we win them, we can dominate the midfield.”

“And just playing simple, working together,” added Morgan.

Speaking of opportunities, the Knights had 15 to Ephrata’s four in the first half. It was more even in the second half, 10-8 Hempfield, but the stat that stood out was corner kicks. Hempfield had eight to none for the Mounts.

“As good as limiting their corners to zero, I was pleased with the amount of opportunities,” said Knights coach Jason Mackey. “We needed to put one of those away. We had multiple chances to make this a two-goal game. At the end of the day, we need to leave ourselves breathing room.”

That it was a one-goal game was a credit to the team work of the Knights’ midfielders. With time running out in the half, Hemp-field had a throw-in deep in the offensive third.

The ball came to Maddie Morgan, who quickly passed to Trowbridge.

“I passed back to Tessa (Groff),” said Trowbridge, who quickly got the ball back. “I could hear Kat scream, ‘Mya!’ and I was like, ‘Oh, there she is.’ ” “When I see Mya get the ball, I know I need to run through,” said Kat Morgan, whose strike delivered her team-leading eighth goal of the season. “Honestly, I didn’t see the goal,” she said. “I just kind of shot it. It went in. That’s all that matters.”

The Knights’ dominance of the midfield had a defensive bonus as it limited the Mounts’ top scorer, Emily Weidner, to five offensive touches.

“It starts with our people on our backline,” Mackey said. “They did a great job. And Piper (Miller) in goal, and we work forward.”

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