LITITZ – Sometimes you get the bear. Sometimes the bear gets you.
And sometimes you’ve got to tip your fluorescent-orange hunting cap to the bear’s prowess, cunning and accuracy.
On a clear Wedneseday night at Warwick High School’s Grosh Field, the undefeated Elco girls’ soccer team endured its first setback of the season, 5-1 to sharp-shooting Manheim Township, in the championshp match of the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs. Following a score-less first half, all six goals were tallied in the second 40 minutes of play.
The Blue Streaks scored on their first three shots of the second half, all of which came in a 6:31 span. At least four of Manheim Township’s goals resulted from well-placed or perfectly-placed shots, and four different Blue Streaks tickled those twines.
Elco, which was coming off its sixth straight L-L Section Three championship, slipped to 14-1 overall. For Section One champion Manheim Township, now 13-1 on the fall, it was its seventh Lancaster-Lebanon League crown.
Elco was short one player, due to contact-tracing and quarantining related to the COVID-19 crisis. After the game, the Raiders were informed that the Elco High School building will be closed over the next four school days and that they will be attending classes virtually.
The closing is not expected to affect the Raiders’ upcoming practice schedule and the preparation for Wednesday’s District Three Class AAA opener. Elco was the top-rated team in the latest Class AAA rankings.
“They’re a very good team,” said Elco head coach Derek Fulk, moments after watching the Blue Streaks accept their gold medals. “I don’t think we played badly. Probably four of those goals were fantastic shots. The one thing we didn’t do is close down on the ball quickly enough. The shots they scored on were pretty darn good. It was just one of those nights.
“Yeah, I would say they’re the best team we’ve seen this season,” continued Fulk. “We knew from the get-go that it was going to be a tough game. We had talked to some people about them. We knew personnel-wise how we wanted to match up with them.”
Six minutes into the second half, Manheim Township’s blitz began when Caroline Wood bent a 25-yarder around a three-person Raider wall and into the far side of the Elco net. It continued when Eloise Warfel touched an Anika Krasnai pass past sliding Raider goalie Madi Bailey and into the goal.
And it concluded with 27:14 remaining, as Krasnai drilled a 40-yarder from the middle of the pitch just under the crossbar, to make it 3-0.
“It was a little strange,” said Fulk of all six goals being scored in the second half. “I think the first half was a little bit of a feeling-out period. I thought we got in positions where we didn’t close fast enough.”
Senior catalyst Katelyn Rueppel injected some life into the Elco hopes two minutes later when she netted her ninth goal of the campaign to make it 3-1. From the middle of the field, Rueppel took one touch to shed a defender, before ripping a right-footed blast into the top shelf of the Manheim Township net.
“We were fortunate to win a league championship a couple of years ago,” said Fulk. “It was fantastic. But it’s always tough sledding playing school as big as Manheim Township.
“We haven’t had a lot of success in the league playoffs,” added Fulk. “All of these teams in Section One are pretty darn good.”
Manheim Township’s response to the Rueppel tally was another two goals, 4:37 apart.
First, Jane Bowen turned and fired a precise attempt just below the crossbar. Then, a hard Blue Streak shot turned away by Bailey caromed into the net off an Elco defender.
“It’s been a great year,” said Fulk. “With the whole COVID thing, we really didn’t have expectations because we didn’t know what was going to happen. We’ve done some really good things against some really good teams. Coming into the season, I thought we had a really good nucleus back and that we could build off of it.”
When the dust had settled, Manheim Township out shot Elco 17-7. The Raiders were awarded six corner kicks compared to none for the Blue Streaks.
“This year, we’re up a classification,” said Fulk, whose program had captured the last two District Three Class AA titles. “The teams are a little different. I definitely think it’s a stronger bracket. I don’t know if it’s championship or bust. We have to win that first game.”
| Date | Opponents | Outcomes | |
| 9/23 7:00 pm | Donegal at Elco | 1 2 | League |
| 9/26 10:00 am | Cedar Crest at Elco | 0 1 | Nonleague |
| 9/29 5:30 pm | Elco at Cocalico | 1 0 | League |
| 10/01 7:00 pm | Lancaster Mennonite at Elco | 0 1 | League |
| 10/03 10:00 am | Berks Catholic at Elco | 1 5 | Nonleague |
| 10/06 7:00 pm | Octorara at Elco | 0 6 | League |
| 10/08 4:00 pm | Elco at Solanco | 1 0 | League |
| 10/10 10:00 am | Elco at Donegal | 4 1 | League |
| 10/12 6:30 pm | Elco at Pottsville Area | Postponed Nonleague | |
| 10/13 7:00 pm | Cocalico at Elco | 0 1 | League |
| 10/15 7:00 pm | Elco at Lancaster Mennonite | 3 0 | League |
| 10/16 4:00 pm | Elco at Wyomissing | 4 3 | Nonleague |
| 10/19 7:00 pm | Elco at Octorara | 5 0 | League |
| 10/21 7:00 pm | Solanco at Elco | 0 2 | League |
| 10/26 6:30 pm | Manheim Central Elco at Lancaster Catholic | 0 4 | Playoff |
| 10/28 6:30 pm | Manheim Township Elco at Warwick | Playoff |
| League | Overall | |||||||||
| W | L | T | PCT | W | L | T | PCT | GS | GA | |
| Elco | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 40 | 6 |
| Cocalico | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0.800 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0.808 | 54 | 6 |
| Donegal | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0.556 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0.455 | 21 | 32 |
| Solanco | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0.444 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0.364 | 13 | 15 |
| Octorara | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0.056 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0.227 | 11 | 41 |
| Lancaster Mennonite | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0.056 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 0.136 | 3 | 24 |
| AAA | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP | TWPW | OWPW | TWPL | OWPL |
| 1 | Eastern Lebanon County | 13- | 0- | 0 | 0.767129 | 1.000000 | 0.482508 | 13.90 | 73.10 | 0.00 | 78.40 |
| 2 | Greencastle Antrim | 12- | 0- | 0 | 0.758662 | 1.000000 | 0.463692 | 12.80 | 75.35 | 0.00 | 87.15 |
| 3 | Gettysburg | 11- | 0- | 0 | 0.758309 | 1.000000 | 0.462908 | 11.70 | 62.40 | 0.00 | 72.40 |
| 4 | Mechanicsburg | 10- | 2- | 0 | 0.721640 | 0.898551 | 0.505415 | 12.40 | 84.00 | 1.40 | 82.20 |
| 5 | Daniel Boone | 11- | 3- | 0 | 0.689997 | 0.833333 | 0.514808 | 12.50 | 88.65 | 2.50 | 83.55 |
| 6 | Lampeter Strasburg | 8- | 3- | 2 | 0.684159 | 0.776978 | 0.570713 | 10.80 | 91.20 | 3.10 | 68.60 |
| 7 | Susquehannock | 9- | 2- | 0 | 0.684071 | 0.840708 | 0.492625 | 9.50 | 66.80 | 1.80 | 68.80 |
| 8 | Cocalico | 10- | 2- | 1 | 0.673141 | 0.841912 | 0.466865 | 11.45 | 70.45 | 2.15 | 80.45 |
| 9 | Conrad Weiser | 10- | 4- | 0 | 0.656242 | 0.780822 | 0.503977 | 11.40 | 88.70 | 3.20 | 87.30 |
| 10 | Manheim Central | 7- | 4- | 1 | 0.653190 | 0.724000 | 0.566644 | 9.05 | 84.60 | 3.45 | 64.70 |
| 11 | Northern York | 9- | 4- | 0 | 0.651038 | 0.718519 | 0.568562 | 9.70 | 102.00 | 3.80 | 77.40 |
| 12 | Red Land | 6- | 5- | 2 | 0.646312 | 0.664000 | 0.624694 | 8.30 | 101.95 | 4.20 | 61.25 |
| 13 | Palmyra | 6- | 5- | 0 | 0.626918 | 0.666667 | 0.578337 | 7.80 | 89.70 | 3.90 | 65.40 |
| 14 | Spring Grove | 6- | 7- | 0 | 0.605162 | 0.588235 | 0.625850 | 7.00 | 110.40 | 4.90 | 66.00 |
| 15 | West Perry | 9- | 4- | 0 | 0.602872 | 0.716535 | 0.463951 | 9.10 | 79.15 | 3.60 | 91.45 |
| 16 | West York | 6- | 5- | 0 | 0.562168 | 0.584071 | 0.535398 | 6.60 | 72.60 | 4.70 | 63.00 |
| 17 | Donegal | 5- | 6- | 0 | 0.549448 | 0.476636 | 0.638441 | 5.10 | 95.00 | 5.60 | 53.80 |
| 18 | York Suburban | 5- | 5- | 1 | 0.537590 | 0.532407 | 0.543924 | 5.75 | 74.30 | 5.05 | 62.30 |
| 19 | Berks Catholic | 7- | 6- | 0 | 0.522003 | 0.512605 | 0.533489 | 6.10 | 91.60 | 5.80 | 80.10 |
| 20 | Dover | 3- | 8- | 0 | 0.501000 | 0.381443 | 0.647124 | 3.70 | 117.00 | 6.00 | 63.80 |
| 21 | Fleetwood | 4- | 8- | 0 | 0.496087 | 0.413793 | 0.596669 | 4.80 | 91.35 | 6.80 | 61.75 |
| 22 | Solanco | 4- | 7- | 0 | 0.490409 | 0.396040 | 0.605749 | 4.00 | 88.50 | 6.10 | 57.60 |
| 23 | Garden Spot | 3- | 9- | 0 | 0.463002 | 0.336207 | 0.617974 | 3.90 | 94.55 | 7.70 | 58.45 |
| 24 | Twin Valley | 3- | 11- | 0 | 0.434578 | 0.276119 | 0.628249 | 3.70 | 111.20 | 9.70 | 65.80 |
| 25 | South Western | 2- | 11- | 0 | 0.431865 | 0.238532 | 0.668161 | 2.60 | 119.20 | 8.30 | 59.20 |
| 26 | Octorara | 3- | 8- | 1 | 0.420089 | 0.288991 | 0.580320 | 3.15 | 83.45 | 7.75 | 60.35 |
| 27 | Shippensburg | 2- | 10- | 0 | 0.354379 | 0.169492 | 0.580352 | 2.00 | 92.45 | 9.80 | 66.85 |
| 28 | Big Spring | 1- | 11- | 1 | 0.346854 | 0.132576 | 0.608749 | 1.75 | 98.80 | 11.45 | 63.50 |
| 29 | East Pennsboro | 1- | 12- | 0 | 0.308679 | 0.068702 | 0.601984 | 0.90 | 97.10 | 12.20 | 64.20 |
| 30 | Susquehanna Township | 1- | 8- | 0 | 0.305419 | 0.111111 | 0.542907 | 1.10 | 62.00 | 8.80 | 52.20 |
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