BY JEFF FALK

MYERSTOWN – It was a devastating blow to their hopes, their dreams, their goals. But it wasn’t the end of their season. It certainly wasn’t the end of the world.

But these Raiders are nothing if not resilient.

On a partly sunny Tuesday evening at Elco High School, the Raiders dropped a critical 2-0 field hockey decision to Garden Spot, in a match-up of the two clubs that shared last season’s Lancaster-Lebanon Section Three championship. The Spartans notched goals in both the opening and final quarters, while the Raiders were inconsistent in their attempts to generate serious scoring chances.

The result all but eliminated any chance Elco had of repeating as section titlists. But at 8-5 overall and 4-3 in the circuit, the Raiders are still very much alive for yet another District Three playoff appearance.

In the latest District Three power rankings, Elco was situated in 14th in a Class AA classification that takes 16 for its postseason.

The win lifted Garden Spot to 8-2 on the fall and 6-1 in Section Three.

Elco head coach Kelsey Thorley was not immediately available for comment after the game.

The Spartans’ early goal certainly set the tone for the outcome.

Garden Spot scored on its first shot, off an extended penalty corner a mere 4:04 into the match. Accepting a pass from Lauren Horning, Erin Gonzalez unleashed a hard shot that beat Elco netminder Aeryn Marks to the short side.

The score stayed 1-0 for the next 47 minutes of action, before Garden Spot notched an insurance marker.

From the right side of the field, Gonzalez got off another hard shot on Marks. The ball got behind Marks and trickled along the goal line, before Horning beat an Raider defender to the ball to knock it home.

Elco was held without a shot in both the first and fourth periods, and final scorebook had the Spartans outshooting the Raiders 15-7. Elco inserted 11 penalty corners compared to Garden Spot’s eight.

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

2021 Elco Field Hockey Results

Date	Outcomes	Opponents
9/03 4:00 pm	Elco at Lancaster Country Day	5 0	Nonleague
9/07 4:00 pm	Northern Lebanon at Elco	1 6	Nonleague
9/09 4:00 pm	Elco at Lancaster Mennonite	0 4	Nonleague
9/13 4:00 pm	Annville-Cleona at Elco	0 2	League
9/14 7:00 pm	Elco at Garden Spot	0 1	League
9/16 4:00 pm	Lebanon at Elco	0 2	League
9/18 TBD	Elco at Muhlenberg	1 2	Nonleague
9/18 12:00 pm	Octorara Elco at Muhlenberg High School	2 3	Nonleague
9/20 12:00 pm	Elco at Solanco	7 0	League
9/22 4:00 pm	McCaskey at Elco	1 3	League
9/24 4:00 pm	Elco at Annville-Cleona	1 2	League
9/25 10:00 am	Elco at Hamburg Area H.S.		Nonleague
9/28 4:00 pm	Garden Spot at Elco		League
9/30 4:00 pm	Elco at Lebanon		League
10/02 10:00 am	Solanco at Elco		League
10/05 4:00 pm	Elco at McCaskey		League
10/08 4:00 pm	Elco at Tulpehocken		Nonleague
10/14 6:00 pm	Elco at Conrad Weiser		Nonleague

PIAA Class AA Power Rankings

AA	School	W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	TWPW	OWPW	TWPL	OWPL
1	Palmyra	9-	1-	0	0.810765	0.923077	0.673496	9.60	105.20	0.80	51.00
2	Northern York	7-	0-	0	0.788000	1.000000	0.528889	7.00	71.40	0.00	63.60
3	Twin Valley	9-	1-	0	0.772790	0.927273	0.583978	10.20	105.70	0.80	75.30
4	Fleetwood	8-	1-	0	0.698907	0.857143	0.505508	7.20	82.60	1.20	80.80
5	Susquehannock	9-	2-	0	0.671444	0.833333	0.473580	9.00	71.70	1.80	79.70
6	Mechanicsburg	7-	3-	0	0.667078	0.729167	0.591191	7.00	95.30	2.60	65.90
7	Berks Catholic	6-	3-	0	0.653690	0.704545	0.591533	6.20	103.40	2.60	71.40
8	Hershey	5-	5-	0	0.635111	0.551020	0.737888	5.40	118.80	4.40	42.20
9	Daniel Boone	7-	3-	0	0.624779	0.720000	0.508399	7.20	90.80	2.80	87.80
10	Garden Spot	7-	2-	0	0.624650	0.750000	0.471445	7.20	80.90	2.40	90.70
11	East Pennsboro	6-	5-	0	0.615629	0.553571	0.691477	6.20	115.20	5.00	51.40
12	Donegal	6-	4-	0	0.615075	0.632653	0.593590	6.20	92.60	3.60	63.40
13	Manheim Central	6-	5-	0	0.574707	0.581818	0.566016	6.40	98.60	4.60	75.60
14	Eastern Lebanon County	8-	4-	0	0.539882	0.627119	0.433260	7.40	79.20	4.40	103.60
15	Conestoga Valley	4-	6-	0	0.539072	0.479167	0.612291	4.60	109.60	5.00	69.40
16	South Western	5-	4-	0	0.536745	0.555556	0.513755	5.00	74.70	4.00	70.70
17	Greencastle Antrim	5-	3-	0	0.518739	0.615385	0.400616	4.80	52.00	3.00	77.80
18	New Oxford	4-	5-	0	0.496486	0.476190	0.521291	4.00	75.90	4.40	69.70
19	Cedar Cliff	3-	6-	0	0.488328	0.390244	0.608209	3.20	81.50	5.00	52.50
20	Gettysburg	4-	3-	0	0.457529	0.500000	0.405620	3.20	56.30	3.20	82.50
21	York Suburban	2-	3-	1	0.449052	0.448276	0.450000	2.60	72.90	3.20	89.10
22	Conrad Weiser	4-	7-	0	0.447167	0.375000	0.535372	4.20	89.30	7.00	77.50
23	Spring Grove	3-	5-	0	0.445487	0.405405	0.494475	3.00	71.60	4.40	73.20
24	Big Spring	5-	5-	0	0.443944	0.458333	0.426357	4.40	66.00	5.20	88.80
25	Lampeter Strasburg	3-	7-	0	0.442123	0.333333	0.575087	3.20	98.80	6.40	73.00
26	Muhlenberg	4-	7-	0	0.423517	0.358491	0.502994	3.80	84.00	6.80	83.00
27	Elizabethtown	3-	6-	2	0.423265	0.372727	0.485033	4.10	87.50	6.90	92.90
28	Red Land	2-	6-	0	0.417036	0.275000	0.590636	2.20	98.40	5.80	68.20
29	Shippensburg	3-	5-	0	0.416881	0.390244	0.449438	3.20	56.00	5.00	68.60
30	West Perry	2-	5-	0	0.407277	0.282051	0.560331	2.20	67.80	5.60	53.20
31	Cocalico	2-	6-	1	0.381344	0.273810	0.512776	2.30	88.30	6.10	83.90
32	Solanco	3-	9-	0	0.378297	0.245614	0.540466	2.80	97.50	8.60	82.90
33	Milton Hershey	2-	7-	0	0.330709	0.208333	0.480280	2.00	75.50	7.60	81.70
34	Dover	1-	8-	0	0.309403	0.133333	0.524600	1.20	85.30	7.80	77.30
35	Northeastern	1-	9-	0	0.289959	0.104167	0.517039	1.00	88.00	8.60	82.20
36	West York	1-	6-	0	0.283589	0.102564	0.504841	0.80	73.00	7.00	71.60
37	Middletown	1-	9-	0	0.254050	0.090909	0.453444	1.00	71.10	10.00	85.70
38	Waynesboro	0-	5-	0	0.185637	0.000000	0.412527	0.00	38.20	5.40	54.40

Lancaster-Lebanon League

Section Three Standings

	League	Overall
	W	L	T	PCT	W	L	T	PCT	GS	GA
Annville-Cleona	5	1	0	0.833	8	2	0	0.800	32	10
Garden Spot	5	1	0	0.833	7	2	0	0.778	21	8
Elco	4	2	0	0.667	8	4	0	0.667	37	14
Lebanon	3	4	0	0.429	5	4	2	0.545	9	10
Solanco	2	5	0	0.286	3	9	0	0.250	18	45
McCaskey	2	6	0	0.250	4	8	0	0.333	15	28

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