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IMG_2119BY JEFF FALK

MYERSTOWN – The better team doesn’t always win. Just like the team that wants it more doesn’t always win.

There’s an old playoff adage ‘survive and advance’ that glorifies the bottom line. But it is never not about the effort.

On a blustery Monday night at Elco Stadium, the Raiders’ girls’ soccer team emerged victorious from its District Three Class AAA postseason opener without putting its collective best foot forward. Despite being out played and out hustled by a spirited Twin Valley squad, Elco advanced by out scoring Twin Valley 4-2 in penalty kicks.

After 80 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of golden-goal overtime ended in a two-all draw, Elco employed superior skills to advance. With the help of the crossbar, Raider goalkeeper Emma Strickler turned aside Twin Valley’s first two PK attempts, while teammates Ryelle Shuey, Emily Bidelspach, Julia Nelson and Monica Arnold were all making good on their shots.

So the now 19-1 and fifth-seeded Raiders lived to fight another day. That day will be Thursday, in the quarterfinals of District Three Class AAA tournament, against fourth-seeded Manheim Central, which shaded Lampeter-Strasburg 2-1, at 7 p.m. at Cedar Crest’s Edward and Jeannie Arnold Field at Earl Boltz Stadium.

Twin Valley, the 13th seeded, ended its campaign at 13-7-1.

IMG_2184With the Twin Valley bench up and cheering each other on and the Raider bench sitting on their hands, Twin Valley out shot Elco by a total of 16-10. Twin Valley also enjoyed a 9-6 advantage in corner kicks.

“That’s a tough question,” said Elco head coach Derek Fulk, when asked if the better team won. “I don’t know. I thought they (Twin Valley) played very well. I thought they did a nice job of game planning us. I think we’re possibly the better team. But they (Twin Valley) deserve a lot of credit.

“I thought they (his players) looked lethargic,” continued Fulk. “I don’t know if it was the weather or the wind or what. I thought they looked disinterested. I don’t know. We were getting really gapped between the midfielders and the defenders, and it was causing us huge problems.”

Facing a 2-1 deficit early in the second half, the Raiders came up with the equalizer courtesy of a well-placed right-footer from sophomore Ryelle Shuey. From the left side of the field 30 yards out, Shuey drove a ball that beat Twin Valley goalie Jordan de Garay to the far side of the net.

IMG_2148“Part of it was the situation of the game,” said Fulk. “A 12-seed playing a five. They (Twin Valley) knew we were 18-0 during the regular season. It’s one of those situations where you give them momentum and it can go a long way.

“But how do you feel that way at this point of the season?” Fulk continued. “There should’ve been plenty of motivation. I’ll have to look into that.”

Elco opened the scoring 16:43 into the match when Shuey  was given way too much time and way too much space. Sent ahead by Bidelspach, Shuey took a couple of touches in the middle of the field before unleashing a 20-yarder that found the left side of the frame.

“She’s a special player,” said Fulk of his striker. “She really makes things happen. I’m just glad she’s only a sophomore. Rye played well, and Emma played well, but other than that, there weren’t many positives.

“I would’ve hated to lose in overtime,” added Fulk. “I guess so (that it’s about surviving and advancing). It wasn’t our best effort. But that’s one good thing.”

But it took Twin Valley exactly 59 seconds to answer Shuey’s tally, and then it owned the better of the play the rest of the way. Accepting a feed from Nadia Ziegler, speedy Twin Valley forward Natalie Dorsheimer used her right foot to beat Strickler low to the far side.

“We knew they were really quick up top,” said Fulk of Twin Valley. “But it’s survive and advance right now. The scary part is that this is two games in-a-row now where we haven’t played well.

IMG_2123“Obviously, the penalty kicks are something we do a lot of at practice this time of the year, for this situation,” Fulk added. “Emma (Strickler) does a great job in penalty kicks. She’s big and athletic. Our kids were very calm and collected.”

Twin Valley had forged its 2-1 edge 6:08 before halftime thanks to a ball played to the Raiders’ right goal post by Hannah Oxendine, from her side of midfield. Teammate Madyson Burns showed good speed in beating Strickler to the ball, and got enough of it to slide it past her and dribble it into the net.

“We’re going to face a very good team in Manheim Central,” said Fulk. “Our technical ability has to be better if we’re going to play with these teams.

“Now it’s probably survive and advance,” continued Fulk. “You hope you play well and give a good showing. Hopefully we’ll put forth a much better effort on Thursday. If we don’t, we’ll probably be going home.”

 

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IMG_2131To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com.

 

 

 

 

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2016 Elco Girls’ Soccer Results
Date Teams Score
9/02
4:00 pm
Elco
at Tulpehocken
4
1
9/03
11:00 am
Elco
at Conrad Weiser
3
0
9/07
4:00 pm
Elco
at Lancaster Catholic
4
0
9/09
4:00 pm
Lebanon Catholic
at Elco
1
9
9/10
5:30 pm
Cedar Crest
at Elco
0
1
9/13
7:00 pm
Lancaster Mennonite
at Elco
0
5
9/15
7:00 pm
Elco
at Donegal
2
1
9/17
7:00 pm
Northern Lebanon
at Elco
0
4
9/20
7:00 pm
Pequea Valley
at Elco
1
2
9/22
4:00 pm
Elco
at Annville-Cleona
3
2
9/26
7:00 pm
Elco
at Middletown
4
0
9/28
7:00 pm
Lancaster Catholic
at Elco
2
5
9/30
7:00 pm
Elco
at Lebanon Catholic
10/03
7:00 pm
Elco
at Lancaster Mennonite
2
1
10/05
7:00 pm
Donegal
at Elco
0
1
10/07
4:00 pm
Elco
at Northern Lebanon
2
0
10/10
7:00 pm
Elco
at Pequea Valley
3
0
10/12
7:00 pm
Annville-Cleona
at Elco
0
4
10/15
10:00 am
Hempfield
Elco
at Manheim Central
5
0
10/24
7:00 pm
Twin Valley
at Elco
2
3

 

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PIAA District Three

 Class AAA Power Rankings

AAA School  W  L  T  Rating  TWP  OWP
1 Fleetwood 17- 0- 0  0.791259  1.000000  0.536132
2 Northern York 17- 0- 0  0.788883  1.000000  0.530852
3 East Pennsboro 17- 0- 0  0.779131  1.000000  0.509181
4 Manheim Central 14- 3- 0  0.755970  0.886486  0.596450
5 Eastern Lebanon County 18- 0- 0  0.754485  1.000000  0.454410
6 Red Land 12- 6- 0  0.726382  0.768421  0.675000
7 Northeastern 13- 5- 0  0.714706  0.805263  0.604026
8 Hershey 11- 6- 1  0.671271  0.735602  0.592645
9 Susquehannock 12- 2- 2  0.671070  0.837500  0.467656
10 Conrad Weiser 11- 5- 0  0.662732  0.715190  0.598617
11 Lower Dauphin 9- 7- 1  0.661917  0.676966  0.643523
12 Twin Valley 12- 5- 1  0.660802  0.765193  0.533213
13 Lampeter Strasburg 9- 6- 2  0.650283  0.672515  0.623111
14 Garden Spot 8- 7- 2  0.626338  0.622857  0.630593
15 Cocalico 9- 8- 0  0.624167  0.630058  0.616968
16 Palmyra 8- 8- 2  0.599899  0.601124  0.598402
17 Donegal 11- 5- 2  0.580599  0.648148  0.498039
18 Spring Grove 7- 11- 0  0.546760  0.505682  0.596967
19 Bishop McDevitt 9- 8- 0  0.533970  0.532164  0.536177
20 James Buchanan 7- 9- 2  0.532255  0.500000  0.571679
21 York Suburban 9- 7- 2  0.526329  0.583333  0.456656
22 Gettysburg 8- 8- 0  0.521417  0.531646  0.508915
23 Dover 7- 7- 1  0.519450  0.538194  0.496539
24 Greencastle Antrim 5- 11- 2  0.485751  0.397727  0.593335
25 Shippensburg 5- 11- 2  0.468925  0.388235  0.567546
26 Susquehanna Township 6- 11- 1  0.446518  0.374317  0.534763
27 West Perry 6- 11- 0  0.430449  0.358382  0.518531
28 Solanco 4- 14- 0  0.428050  0.280488  0.608404
29 Berks Catholic 6- 12- 0  0.427459  0.317073  0.562375
30 West York 4- 12- 0  0.394960  0.283784  0.530841
31 Big Spring 4- 12- 0  0.383951  0.280000  0.511002
32 Milton Hershey 2- 13- 0  0.320262  0.134228  0.547637
33 Kennard Dale 2- 13- 2  0.307320  0.155280  0.493148

 

 

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Final Lancaster-Lebanon Leage SECTION THREE Standings
  League Overall
  W L T PCT W L T PCT PS PA
Elco 13 0 0 100.00 18 1 0 94.74 60 15
Donegal 9 3 1 73.08 10 6 2 61.11 45 18
Lancaster Mennonite 9 3 2 71.43 9 5 2 62.50 39 14
Lancaster Catholic 6 8 0 42.86 9 9 0 50.00 31 19
Pequea Valley 5 7 1 42.31 8 7 1 53.13 29 22
Annville-Cleona 5 8 0 38.46 8 9 0 47.06 57 26
Northern Lebanon 3 10 0 23.08 3 13 0 18.75 20 37
Lebanon Catholic 0 11 0 0.00 1 14 0 6.67 13 64

 

 

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