BY JEFF FALK

WITMER – The Elco girls’ soccer team has won the last three Lancaster-Lebanon Section Three championships. It is a great accomplishment that no one can ever diminish.

But that regular-season success has not spilled over into the L-L postseason.

On a cloudy Saturday morning at Conestoga Valley High School, the Raiders’ league playoff frustration continued, in the form of a 3-2 overtime loss to Manheim Township. Although the Raiders competed well, they had their hearts broken by Blue Streak sniper Alison Heckman.

With time and space 4:49 into the extra session, Heckman made no mistakes on the game-winner, from 30 yards out. Accepting a feed from teammate Julia Mason, the talented Heckman blasted a right-footer just under the Elco cross bar.

For Elco, the setback was its third in as many seasons after capturing the Section Three crown. Now 16-2-1 on the fall, the Raiders will compete in the District Three Class AAA tournament as the fifth seed, beginning October 23rd at home.

The triumph pushed Manheim Township, the runner-up from Section One, to 14-1-3 and into Tuesday’s semifinals of the L-L event.

“They’re most disappointed about the fact that we lost,” said Elco head coach Derek Fulk of his charges. “I’m more concerned about us getting ready for districts. I’d rather see us make a long run in districts. I’d rather win a district championship than a league championship. But our kids are competitive. I was glad we showed pretty well. I think we can play with anyone, when we come to play.

“We were trying to keep Emily Bidelspach on her (Heckman),” continued Fulk. “What happened was the ball bounced around and Emily stepped to the ball. Mason got the ball to Heckman and we were a step slow. She doesn’t need a lot of time. She’s a great player, and she’s fun to watch.”

With the score deadlocked at one, Elco got a goal from Tanisha Grewal, with 19:59 remaining. to take the lead. From 25 yards away, Grewal unleashed a right-footer that deflected off a Blue Streak defender and past goalie Delaney McKnight to the left post.

But seven minutes later Manheim Township responded, with a Katherine Lopez tally that ultimately sent the contest to overtime. The ball pin-balled around in the Raider goal mouth, before Gabi Brown touched a pass to Lopez, who finished with her right foot.

“It was just the way it happened,” said Fulk. “We made a mistake and didn’t clear a ball, and good teams make you pay for mistakes. It was disappointing to lose, but it was a good showing for us.

“That’s been a nice thing,” Fulk continued. “Everybody knows about Ryelle (Shuey), but we have good players around her. These kids are getting better and better at an early age. I think people concentrate on Rye and it opens opportunities for other players.”

Manheim Township assumed a 1-0 edge 7:12 into the contest on Heckman and Mason’s initial collaboration of the morning. The Heckman tally was similar to her game-winner in that it was well-placed, just under the crossbar of the Raider frame.

The Blue Streaks maintained their advantage until 8:01 into the second half, when Elco tied it at one off a corner kick taken by Jordan Rosengrant. Rosengrant’s boot found teammate Julia Nelson on the opposite side of the Manheim Township box, and Nelson quickly flicked a pass to Natalie Swingholm, who slid a right-footer inside the right post.

“I don’t think our approach changes,” said Fulk. “From our perspective, Section One has always been the top dog in the league playoffs, for the most part. Their section is tremendously competitive. They’re all big schools. They’ve traditionally shown they’re the better teams. Their (Manheim Township’s) record was tremendous. I don’t try to play up the Section One thing.”

The match was evenly contested throughout. Manheim Township enjoyed a slight 10-9 edge in shots, but Elco took five corner kicks to the Blue Streaks’ none.

“There’s always that competitive line between Section One and Section Three,” said Fulk. “I thought we showed up very well today. Heckman is one of the best players I’ve seen. She only needs a step. But we fought. We played well. We rebounded and we did some really good things.

“We’re the smallest (Class) AAA school, so districts are always going to be tough,” added Fulk. “But if we play like we did today, we’ll be OK.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 2017 Elco Girls’ Soccer Results

Date	Teams	Score
9/01 12:00 pm	Tulpehocken at Elco	0 10
9/02 10:00 am	Palmyra Elco at Donegal
9/02 10:00 am	Conrad Weiser at Elco	2 5
9/07 7:00 pm	Lancaster Catholic at Elco	0 1
9/08 4:00 pm	Elco at Lebanon Catholic	12 1
9/09 7:00 pm	Elco at Cedar Crest	2 1
9/12 7:00 pm	Elco at Lancaster Mennonite	1 0
9/14 7:00 pm	Donegal at Elco	0 4
9/16 7:00 pm	Elco at Northern Lebanon	7 1
9/19 4:00 pm	Elco at Pequea Valley	5 0
9/21 7:00 pm	Annville-Cleona at Elco	0 3
9/25 4:00 pm	Middletown at Elco	0 4
9/27 4:00 pm	Elco at Lancaster Catholic	3 0
9/29 4:00 pm	Lebanon Catholic at Elco	1 12
10/02 7:00 pm	Lancaster Mennonite at Elco	0 3
10/04 7:00 pm	Elco at Donegal	1 1
10/06 4:00 pm	Northern Lebanon at Elco	0 9
10/09 7:00 pm	Pequea Valley at Elco	2 1
10/11 4:00 pm	Elco at Annville-Cleona	8 0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PIAA District Three

 Class AAA Power Rankings

 

AAA	School	W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	TWPW	OWPW	TWPL	OWPL
1	Fleetwood	17-	0-	0	0.811795	1.000000	0.581766	17.9	160.8	0.0	115.6
2	East Pennsboro	16-	0-	0	0.779350	1.000000	0.509666	16.6	145.0	0.0	139.5
3	Lower Dauphin	11-	5-	0	0.737920	0.794118	0.669233	13.5	199.9	3.5	98.8
4	Northern York	14-	3-	1	0.732529	0.867568	0.567483	16.1	171.6	2.5	130.8
5	Eastern Lebanon County	16-	1-	1	0.685475	0.907186	0.414496	15.2	124.1	1.6	175.3
6	Lampeter Strasburg	12-	5-	0	0.681899	0.779661	0.562413	13.8	160.9	3.9	125.2
7	Donegal	14-	1-	3	0.677390	0.853293	0.462396	14.3	139.0	2.5	161.6
8	Susquehannock	13-	3-	0	0.671251	0.841772	0.462837	13.3	122.1	2.5	141.7
9	Northeastern	9-	5-	4	0.663546	0.706522	0.611020	13.0	186.3	5.4	118.6
10	Manheim Central	11-	6-	0	0.660873	0.731844	0.574132	13.1	165.4	4.8	122.7
11	Conrad Weiser	10-	6-	1	0.633615	0.649390	0.614335	10.7	177.9	5.8	111.7
12	Hershey	9-	8-	1	0.631612	0.630890	0.632494	12.1	191.0	7.1	111.0
13	Bishop McDevitt	10-	4-	2	0.625199	0.694805	0.540126	10.7	154.8	4.7	131.8
14	Palmyra	8-	7-	1	0.624502	0.631737	0.615661	10.6	188.7	6.2	117.8
15	Twin Valley	10-	8-	0	0.617279	0.635294	0.595261	10.8	182.2	6.2	123.9
16	Cocalico	8-	7-	2	0.599889	0.631579	0.561157	10.8	162.0	6.3	126.7
17	James Buchanan	9-	7-	0	0.591418	0.611111	0.567350	9.9	168.9	6.3	128.8
18	Gettysburg	10-	6-	0	0.579589	0.654321	0.488250	10.6	120.5	5.6	126.3
19	Berks Catholic	11-	7-	0	0.578439	0.617647	0.530519	10.5	156.5	6.5	138.5
20	Dover	10-	6-	0	0.569240	0.653846	0.465832	10.2	117.3	5.4	134.5
21	Susquehanna Township	9-	6-	1	0.547083	0.599415	0.483122	10.3	137.4	6.9	147.0
22	Spring Grove	6-	10-	2	0.542767	0.506024	0.587675	8.4	176.0	8.2	123.5
23	Red Land	5-	11-	0	0.536140	0.433824	0.661194	5.9	199.4	7.7	102.2
24	Garden Spot	6-	11-	0	0.518372	0.449704	0.602300	7.6	175.5	9.3	115.9
25	Solanco	6-	11-	1	0.487571	0.433333	0.553861	7.2	167.1	9.4	134.6
26	York Suburban	8-	9-	1	0.477770	0.500000	0.450600	8.4	131.4	8.4	160.2
27	Greencastle Antrim	5-	12-	1	0.469002	0.357988	0.604686	6.1	179.4	10.9	117.3
28	West York	5-	11-	0	0.429607	0.345070	0.532930	4.9	140.8	9.3	123.4
29	West Perry	5-	12-	0	0.425499	0.307263	0.570010	5.5	166.5	12.4	125.6
30	Big Spring	5-	11-	0	0.415933	0.348684	0.498127	5.3	133.0	9.9	134.0
31	Kennard Dale	4-	12-	1	0.374589	0.258929	0.515952	4.4	140.7	12.5	132.0
32	Shippensburg	1-	14-	2	0.355431	0.152866	0.603010	2.4	180.3	13.3	118.7
33	Milton Hershey	1-	15-	0	0.305928	0.077381	0.585263	1.3	159.3	15.5	112.9