BY JEFF FALK
WITMER – Accentuate the positives, downplay the negatives, but never hide your head in the sand. It’s not a bad way to go through life – or a soccer season.
The Cedar Crest girls’ soccer team gave a pretty good account of itself – especially in the first half – during it sixth straight appearance in the District Three tournament. The rest was just noise.
On a cold Tuesday evening at Conestoga Valley High School, the Falcons endured a 5-2, season-ending setback to the hometown Buckskins, in the opening round of the District Three Class AAAA postseason. After enjoying a 1-0 halftime cushion courtesy of an Ariel Jones tally, Cedar Crest was buried under a barrage of Buckskin goals in the opening 18:47 of the second half – the first two of which came just 1:12 apart, five minutes after the break.
With the result, 13th-seeded Cedar Crest, which had dropped a pair of 3-0 decisions to Conestoga Valley during Lancaster-Lebanon Section One play, completed its campaign at 8-10-1. The fourth-seeded Buckskins moved to 18-2 overall and into Saturday’s quarterfinal round of the tournament.
“I think this was the sixth straight season we qualified for districts,” said Cedar Crest head coach Jon Brubaker. “When you make it to the playoffs, the games are always tough. I think we can carry some of this over to next season.
“I’m proud of my group for making it to districts,” Brubaker continued. “When you’ve done it that many times, sometimes people forget how hard it is. We stayed with it. We didn’t quit. I’m proud of them for that.”
Jones’ goal, which came 18:29 into the match, accentuated one of the Falcons’ best halves of soccer this season.
The play originated from teammate Carli Wasson in the middle of the field, as she slid a pass to Jones on the left wing. When Conestoga Valley keeper Lauren Yoder reacted to Jones, the latter slipped a left-footer past her and inside the far post.
It was senior Jones’ ninth goal of the season.
“One of the biggest things I remember was Carli Wasson’s great vision on the play,” said Brubaker. “Ariel has great speed. She’s been doing it all year. And she put it into the back of the net.
“I thought it was one of the best halves we played all season,” added Brubaker. “Not only the way we moved the ball, but how focused we were and how we were able to frustrate them (the Buckskins).”
But things switched drastically in the second half, as the Buckskins scored on their first two shots.
Five minutes and 47 seconds in, Conestoga Valley’s Emma Weirich took advantage of a Falcon give-away and ripped a right footer just under the crossbar from 20 yards out to tie the score. Then, unmarked Buckskin Gianna Yurchak headed a Weirich pass past Cedar Crest netminder Courtney Wysokowski for a lead they would never relinquish.
Three consecutive Conestoga Valley goals would follow.
“I thought we had a fantastic first half,” said Brubaker. “That was the type of half we were hoping for, and could have. We finished a great chance. And then, Conestoga Valley is a great team. I think we made them upset. I walk away proud knowing we made Conestoga Valley work for it.
“I think momentum changed in the second half,” Brubaker continued. “I am surprised we gave up that many goals. That was a great second half that Conestoga Valley played. It was the best I’ve seen them play.”
Jess Hood extended the Buckskins lead to 3-1 in the match’s 54th minute. Out of a corner, Hood’s re-entry squirted through Wysokowski’s gloves and into the net.
Five minutes later, CV’s Haley Peachey accepted a pass from Megan Stone, and with time and space chose the lower left-hand corner of the net to deposit her right-footer. The Buckskin onslaught concluded with 14:36 remaining when Yurchak gobbled up a Cedar Crest turnover, took a couple of touches and then ripped a drive to the far corner of the net.
“I think we were surprised and stunned they scored two goals that quick,” said Brubaker of the Buckskins’ first two tallies. “But I don’t think our confidence wavered. I thought we did play to the end.
“The interesting thing is they scored their goals in a lot of different ways,” Brubaker added. “One came on a corner kick. One came on an outside shot. One came on a header. I don’t think it was breaking down as much as them making plays.”
The Falcons did play to the end, and that persistence paid off in the form of Sam Gerhart’s goal with 7:02 remaining. Gerhart took a ball out of the air with her right foot and one-timed it short side for her ninth goal of the year.
“To be honest, no matter who you play in the playoffs, you don’t want to see a team you’ve played twice,” said Brubaker. “It’s just more fun to play a different team. If I had to pick, I wouldn’t have picked Conestoga Valley. But I do think we had confidence coming in.
“This senior group has qualified for districts in every season of their careers,” continued Brubaker. “That’s a nice accomplishment. I’m very proud of my seniors. They’ve been an important part of our core.”
The final tally saw Conestoga Valley out shoot Cedar Crest 15-9. The Buckskins also held a 4-0 advantage in corner kicks.
To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to www.https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/?page_id=40462.
| 2016 Cedar Crest Girls’ Soccer Schedule | |||
| Date | Teams | Score | |
| 9/02 4:00 pm |
Cedar Crest at Cocalico |
2 1 |
|
| 9/06 4:00 pm |
Cedar Crest at McCaskey |
8 0 |
|
| 9/08 7:00 pm |
Warwick at Cedar Crest |
2 1 |
|
| 9/10 5:30 pm |
Cedar Crest at Elco |
0 1 |
|
| 9/12 4:00 pm |
Cedar Crest at Penn Manor |
4 2 |
|
| 9/14 4:00 pm |
Cedar Crest at Manheim Township |
0 3 |
|
| 9/17 10:00 am |
Governor Mifflin at Cedar Crest |
3 2 |
|
| 9/19 7:00 pm |
Conestoga Valley at Cedar Crest |
3 0 |
|
| 9/21 7:00 pm |
Hempfield at Cedar Crest |
3 3 |
|
| 9/24 6:30 pm |
Exeter at Cedar Crest |
1 2 |
|
| 9/27 4:00 pm |
McCaskey at Cedar Crest |
0 10 |
|
| 9/29 6:00 pm |
Cedar Crest at Warwick |
1 0 |
|
| 10/01 10:00 am |
Cedar Crest at Palmyra |
3 1 |
|
| 10/04 7:00 pm |
Penn Manor at Cedar Crest |
1 4 |
|
| 10/06 7:00 pm |
Manheim Township at Cedar Crest |
3 0 |
|
| 10/08 7:00 pm |
Carlisle at Cedar Crest |
||
| 10/11 7:00 pm |
Cedar Crest at Conestoga Valley |
0 3 |
|
| 10/13 7:00 pm |
Cedar Crest at Hempfield |
1 3 |
|
| 10/25 7:00 pm |
Cedar Crest at Conestoga Valley |
||
PIAA District Three Class AAAA Power Rankings
|
| Lancaster-Lebanon League Final Section One Standings | ||||||||||
| League | Overall | |||||||||
| W | L | T | PCT | W | L | T | PCT | PS | PA | |
| Manheim Township | 11 | 1 | 0 | 91.67 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 94.74 | 84 | 9 |
| Conestoga Valley | 11 | 1 | 0 | 91.67 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 89.47 | 68 | 8 |
| Hempfield | 6 | 5 | 1 | 54.17 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 61.11 | 59 | 26 |
| Cedar Crest | 5 | 6 | 1 | 45.83 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 50.00 | 41 | 29 |
| Warwick | 5 | 7 | 0 | 41.67 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 40.00 | 34 | 25 |
| Penn Manor | 3 | 9 | 0 | 25.00 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 29.41 | 34 | 42 |
| McCaskey | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 17.65 | 16 | 85 |
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