Pioneers Snap Back

The Lampeter-Strasburg boys lacrosse team entered its game Friday two days removed from an upset loss to Conestoga Valley. The Pioneers were without their starting faceoff because of COVID-19 contact tracing — compounding challenges for a roster lacking in depth.

And they were on the road at unbeaten Ephrata, facing a Mountaineers team with three all-stars back from the 2019 squad that won the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two crown.

Regardless, L-S scored the game’s first three goals, played lights-out defense and came away with a 13-7 bounceback victory. With the win, the Pioneers (2-1 league, 3-2 overall) got back into the Section Two race and handed Ephrata (2-1, 4-1) its first loss of the season.

“It’s big,” L-S junior midfielder Stewart McClain said of the win.

McClain matched his season high with five goals to go along with a pair of assists.

His first goal, 95 seconds into Friday’s matchup, got things started for the Pioneers, who led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter, 7-2 at halftime and 10-4 at the end of the third quarter.

That came despite Ephrata senior Tyler Nelson winning the faceoff battle 17-6. L-S made up for it by dominating on ground balls and with the defensive play of sophomore defender Morgan Smith, who stuck like glue to Ephrata leading scorer Brock Boyer.

“All night long,” L-S firstyear coach Mike McConomy said. “That was the gameplan. We know (Boyer) is going to get his goals and get his shots off. We were just trying to get his gloves. Morgan played the game of his life so far.”

Boyer still managed to collect five goals and two assists, but nearly all of his shots came from deep, a result of the L-S defense doing a good job on help defense and sliding to keep the Mountaineers from penetrating.

McConomy also noted that Wednesday’s 11-10 loss to CV served as a motivator to his players.

“Yes, a very big needed kick in the butt,” he said.

L-S keeper Bryce Thomas and Ephrata keeper Ryan Lindberg each collected 13 saves. L-S also got three goals apiece from Conner Nolt and Colin Sullivan, along with four assists from Zach Labreque.

“It feels great,” McConomy said of the victory. “This is probably the biggest win for a lot of the kids on this team. But we’re right back to work. We got Warwick on Monday.” Meanwhile, Ephrata will be back in action this morning for its first road contest of the season when it travels to Twin Valley.

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