BY JEFF FALK

SOUTH LEBANON – They say you can tell an athletic event is meaningful if they keep score. So what does it mean if they have a trophy and they engrave all the scores of the past battles on it?

Well, that’s somewhere beyond important.

On a cool Saturday evening at Arnold Field at Earl Boltz Stadium, junior forward Ryelle Shuey’s terrific goal with 4:14 left in the second ten-minute, golden-goal overtime period gave the Elco girls’ soccer team a dramatic 2-1 win over rival Cedar Crest, and the coveted Blue-Gray Cup. After the Falcons had frustrated the Raider offense for the majority of regulation, Elco came up with Katelyn Rueppel’s game-tying goal with 7:18 of the second half remaining, to send the contest to ‘bonus soccer’.

The result kept 5-0 Elco unbeaten on the season. Cedar Crest slipped to 1-2-1 on the year.

With the outcome, the Raiders got to keep the Blue-Gray in Myerstown for a second straight year. In the 23-year history of the rivalry, each side has won 11 times.

“It was a fantastic diagonal run by Rye,” said Elco head coach Derek Fulk. “It was going to take a great goal to win it. It was a typical Elco-Cedar Crest battle.

“She’s (Shuey) definitely going to be someone the other team is aware of,” continued Fulk. “We try to move her around, try to alleviate some of that pressure. With a player of her caliber, stuff like that is going to happen. It’s something she’s gotten used to.”

“They just caught us in transition,” said Cedar Crest head coach Jon Brubaker of Shuey and the Raiders. “Ryelle is a great player, and she hit a great shot.”

The game-winning play originated harmlessly enough from the midfield, on a 50-yard over-the-top ball from Elco’s Jenny Axarlis.

Initially, it didn’t appear that Shuey could get to the ball first, but she busted her hump to do so. Once there, Shuey used her right foot to rip a 30-yarder into the far side of the net.

“We’re fortunate to play a lot of the county schools,” said Fulk. “For us, this is a tough game. We’re neighbors. It’s for bragging rights. We always know they’re going to be up for us. It’s a good rivalry.

“Historically, The Cup has gone in spurts, back and forth,” added Fulk. “They’re (the Falcons) always competitive. They’re always well-coached.”

“In the big picture, this game is no more important than the others,” said Brubaker. “It’s just one loss. But there’s certainly a lot of history to it. The girls want it. No matter how the season is going, the girls always want to win the Elco game.

“I was really proud of the effort we showed,” Brubaker added. “We have a young team. The energy and effort we gave was great.”

The Falcons netted the contest’s first goal, then protected it by keeping the Raider offense on the perimeter. But with less than eight minutes to play in regulation, Rueppel and company finally broke through.

Off a corner kick from Raider Jordan Rosengrant, Falcon netminder Courtney Wysokowski made a save on an initial Elco attempt from in close. But Rueppel was there to jam home the rebound.

“It seemed like we finally got a break on a corner kick,” said Fulk. “Jordan played a nice ball in, and I thought Rye got the first head on it. It ended up on K.K.’s (Rueppel) foot and she did a nice job of finishing.

“We talked about it at halftime,” Fulk added. “We were settling for shots from distance, instead of making something happen. That is not what we want, not to say we can’t score from distance.”

“As a young team, we have to give up fewer corners plays and foul less, because Elco is always dangerous out of set pieces,” said Brubaker. “I felt like our play was a little up and down. I thought some of our best play came in the second half. But they had the better of the play in overtime. They had more chances than we did.”

Following a score-less first half, Cedar Crest assumed a 1-0 lead 10:53 into the second half.

On the second of two straight Elco fouls, Falcon Sydney Snyder was awarded a restart from 20 yards out, and got off a good shot around the Raiders’ five-person wall. Elco goalie Hailey Sherk made a nice save on Snyder’s shot, but teammate Tori Roberts knocked in the rebound.

“I was happy with the way we played,” said Fulk, whose troops were playing their third game in three days. “We did a really nice job of playing soccer. Tonight’s always going to be a battle. I thought we played pretty well. But credit to Cedar Crest, they battled.”

“It was a great shot by Sydney Snyder,” said Brubaker. “She did a good job of playing it around the wall. And Tori did a great job of following that shot. Certainly it makes it harder to mark with less people. But it’s hard from in close. I don’t think Sydney had a lot of room to work with.”

In the final tally, Elco out shot Cedar Crest 17-4 and held a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks.

“I think so far so good,” said Fulk. “But we’re not satisfied. Things have gone well. We’ve had our ups and downs, but things are going forward. With who we’ve played, it’s been good competition.”

“Our biggest challenge right now is scoring goals,” said Brubaker. “We lost a lot of good goal scorers from last year. We want to continue to get better as a team and try to make more opportunities to score.

“The postseason is always part of the plan,” continued Brubaker. “We haven’t talked much about it. It’s so early. We’re trying to get better and take it one game at a time, and if we do that, things will take care of themselves.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Blue-Gray Cup History

2017 – Elco, 2-1 OT

2016 – Elco, 1-0

2015 – Cedar Crest, 3-0

2014 – Did Not Play

2013 – Cedar Crest, 3-1

2012 – Cedar Crest, 4-1

2012 – Cedar Crest, 3-0

2011 – Cedar Crest, 3-2

2010 – Cedar Crest, 4-1

2009 – Elco, 1-0

2008 – Elco, 2-1

2007 – Elco, 2-0

2006 – Cedar Crest, 1-0

2005 – Elco, 4-0

2004 – Elco, 1-0

2003 – Did Not Play

2002 – Elco, 1-0

2001 – Cedar Crest, 2-1

2000 – Cedar Crest, 4-0

1999 – Cedar Crest, 2-0

1998 – Cedar Crest, 3-1

1997 – Elco, 4-3

1996 – Elco, 1-0

1995 – Elco, 5-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 2017 Elco Girls’ Soccer Schedule

Date/Time		Opponent	Location
Thu Aug 24 4:00PM		Palmyra Area Senior High School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Upper Soccer Field
Sat Aug 26 3:00PM		Girls Soccer Blue Gold Game	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium
Tue Aug 29 6:30PM		Bishop McDevitt High School	Bishop McDevitt High School
Fri Sep 1 12:00PM		Tulpehocken Junior/Senior High School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium
Sat Sep 2 10:00AM		Conrad Weiser High School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium
Wed Sep 6 7:00PM		Lancaster Catholic High School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium	RAINOUT
Thu Sep 7 7:00PM		Lancaster Catholic High School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium
Fri Sep 8 4:00PM		Lebanon Catholic School	Lebanon Catholic High School School field
Sat Sep 9 7:00PM		Cedar Crest High School	Cedar Crest High School CCHS Stadium
Tue Sep 12 7:00PM		Lancaster Mennonite School	Lancaster Mennonite High School Turf Field
Thu Sep 14 7:00PM		Donegal Senior High School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium
Sat Sep 16 7:00PM		Northern Lebanon HS/MS	Northern Lebanon MS/HS Stadium – 1
Tue Sep 19 4:00PM		Pequea Valley High School	Pequea Valley High School Field 1-Turf Stadium
Thu Sep 21 7:00PM		Annville-Cleona High School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium
Mon Sep 25 4:00PM		Middletown Area High School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium
Wed Sep 27 4:00PM		Lancaster Catholic High School	Lancaster Catholic High School Stadium Complex Rossmere Stadium
Fri Sep 29 4:00PM		Lebanon Catholic School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Upper Soccer Field
Mon Oct 2 7:00PM		Lancaster Mennonite School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium
Wed Oct 4 4:00PM		Donegal Senior High School	Donegal Primary School Soccer varsity field at DPS
Fri Oct 6 4:00PM		Northern Lebanon HS/MS	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Upper Soccer Field
Mon Oct 9 7:00PM		Pequea Valley High School	Eastern Lebanon Co Sr High School Stadium
Wed Oct 11 4:00PM		Annville-Cleona High School	Annville-Cleona High School Varsity Soccer

 

 

2017 Cedar Crest Girls’ Soccer Schedule