BY JEFF FALK

SOUTH LEBANON – Time is one of the most difficult concepts for humans to grasp.

We either have too much of it, or not enough. We rarely have just the right amount of time.

We’re either in a hurry or bored because we don’t know what to do with our time. Manage time and it can be the first step towards true happiness.

The Cedar Crest girls’ soccer team knows a little something about time.

With talent and potential, the 2016 season hasn’t quite unfolded the way the Falcons would have liked. But the good news for Cedar Crest is that there’s still time.

On a bright Tuesday afternoon at Earl Boltz Stadium, the Falcons registered the type of win that has the ability to send them down the right path, a 10-0 demolition of McCaskey. In opening an 8-0 halftime bulge, Cedar Crest scored five times in the game’s initial 17:48.

In all, seven different Falcons found the back of the net, including sophomores Reagan Young, Sam Gerhart and Sydney Snyder, who each potted a pair goals. Senior Alex Burrows collected a goal and two assists for Cedar Crest, while Bridgett Finn contributed a goal and an assist and Carli Wasson added a couple of assists.

The Falcons scored on more than half of their 19 shots.

The result evened Cedar Crest’s overall record to 5-5-1 and upped its Lancaster-Lebanon Section One mark to 3-3. The Falcons were rated 14th in the latest District Three Class AAAA power rankings.

McCaskey, which dropped an earlier 8-0 decision to the Falcons back on September 6 in Lancaster, slipped to 2-7 on the year and 0-7 in the circuit.

“I think we’ve underachieved,” said Cedar Crest head coach Jon Brubaker. “But I think we still have some good soccer ahead of us. We want to be playing our best soccer at this time of the year.

“Our problem this year is we haven’t been able to finish games,” Brubaker continued. “We’ve given up goals late in the game. That’s the focus for us from here on out.”

The Falcons wasted precious little time jumping out to a 3-0 advantage – needing just 12:20 of the first half to be exact.

It was defender Casey Shillabeer who got Cedar Crest going 3:12 in, with her accurate right foot from the top of the box. Off a corner, the ball had popped out of the goal mouth to Shillabeer positioned at the right place, at the right time.

Four minutes later, Gerhart made it 2-0 by converting a cross from Finn. Finn made the play by dribbling the ball down the right side of the field and drawing the McCaskey keeper to her, before slipping the ball to Gerhart’s left foot, at the left goal post.

The Falcons’ third goal belonged to another tenth-grader, Maddie Brown. Off a corner taken by Wasson, Brown was unmarked before heading the ball inside the near post.

“In any game, you want to start well,” said Brubaker. “I thought the girls came out with great energy in the first ten minutes. We created many good chances.

“We’ve been talking about switching fields,” continued Brubaker. “We had several chances that we created from the left side of the field. Switching fields has been an emphasis in practice, and it was something we were able to do well many times today.”

Cedar Crest’s unrelenting pressure again paid dividends with 25:04 left on the first-half clock, when Gerhart was sent ahead and in alone on the Red Tornado net by Burrows. All that was left for Gerhart to do was finish nicely with her left foot.

The Falcons extended their lead to 5-0 courtesy of a penalty kick taken by the right foot of Burrows. The right upper portion of the McCaskey net proved to be the ball’s final resting place.

Five minutes later, Young joined the Crest party with an unassisted tally. Young’s job was to deposit a loose ball into the weak side of the net, after her teammates had bombarded the Red Tornado defense with a barrage of attempts.

“I think we played pretty well,” said Brubaker. “We moved the ball. We were coming off what I thought was our worst effort of the season on Saturday, even though it was a win. I think what was good toady were our passes.

“The way the season has gone, I never feel too comfortable,” added Brubaker. “But in soccer, once you get a four-goal lead, you typically feel safe. Bad habits can be created in any game, whether you’re winning by a lot, losing by a lot or its a close game. I don’t feel like we’ve been  playing our style of soccer, but we did today.”

Cedar Crest’s final two goals of the first half were similar in that they were well-placed balls from the middle of the field. Snyder found the upper portion of the net with her right foot from 30 yards out, while Finn unleashed a good hard shot that was too hot for the Red Tornado keeper to handle.

The Falcons’ two second-half tallies were results of collaborations between Snyder and Young. First, Snyder assisted on Young’s goal at the 13:09 mark, then Young returned the favor with 17:57 remaining.

“One thing I’m very happy about is that our team doesn’t have unselfish players,” said Brubaker. “They want to see other girls have success. I was proud of how the girls were unselfish today.

“At this point, we need to take it one game at a time,” Brubaker added. “Thursday we play Warwick, which is right next to us in the section and in the district power rankings. That’s a huge game coming up.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to www.http://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/gallery-11/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016 Cedar Crest Girls’ Soccer Results

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lancaster-Lebanon League Section One Standings

TEAM	LEAGUE	OVERALL
Conestoga Valley	5-0	8-0
Manheim Twp.	4-1	6-1
Warwick	3-2	4-4
Hempfield	2-3	5-3
Penn Manor	2-3	4-5
Cedar Crest	2-3	3-5
McCaskey	0-6	2-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PIAA District Three

 Class AAAA Power Rankings

AAAA School  W  L  T  Rating  TWP  OWP 1 Elizabethtown 9- 0- 0  0.832468  1.000000  0.627707 2 Conestoga Valley 10- 0- 0  0.831458  1.000000  0.625462 3 Central Dauphin 9- 0- 1  0.813136  0.971074  0.620099 4 Manheim Township 8- 1- 0  0.809947  0.935780  0.656152 5 Wilson (3) 8- 2- 0  0.766694  0.879310  0.629051 6 Cumberland Valley 7- 2- 1  0.764827  0.827434  0.688308 7 Mechanicsburg 8- 2- 0  0.717899  0.827586  0.583837 8 HEMPFIELD 5- 3- 1  0.713979  0.739362  0.682957 9 Ephrata 7- 3- 0  0.698315  0.772727  0.607367 10 Red Lion 7- 3- 0  0.688173  0.794118  0.558684 11 Cedar Cliff 7- 4- 0  0.654123  0.724771  0.567776 12 Dallastown 6- 5- 0  0.653263  0.666667  0.636881 13 Warwick 4- 5- 0  0.636989  0.574713  0.713105 14 Cedar Crest 4- 5- 1  0.627421  0.582474  0.682356 15 Daniel Boone 7- 5- 0  0.627195  0.646552  0.603537 16 Penn Manor 4- 6- 0  0.620323  0.521739  0.740814 17 Governor Mifflin 5- 6- 0  0.616576  0.577982  0.663747 18 Muhlenberg 6- 5- 0  0.591861  0.574257  0.613375 19 Central York 4- 6- 1  0.558421  0.495536  0.635281 20 Waynesboro 5- 6- 0  0.544063  0.513514  0.581401 21 Chambersburg 3- 6- 0  0.531784  0.443038  0.640251 22 Exeter Township 2- 6- 1  0.501406  0.388158  0.639821 23 J P McCaskey 3- 8- 0  0.497982  0.381443  0.640419 24 Carlisle 2- 8- 0  0.493826  0.302326  0.727882 25 South Western 3- 7- 0  0.487007  0.385417  0.611173 26 Central Dauphin East 3- 7- 0  0.435406  0.372340  0.512486 27 Lebanon 1- 8- 1  0.389641  0.219101  0.598078 28 New Oxford 1- 6- 0  0.361507  0.163636  0.603350 29 Reading 0- 9- 1  0.298790  0.076471  0.570513 30 York Country Day School 1- 3- 0  0.221692  0.175000  0.278761