LANCASTER – The Annville-Cleona field hockey team lost its most important game of the season yesterday. But it wasn’t a final setback or a debilitating loss.
Besides, character, leadership and chemistry are great sources of consolation.
On a partly sunny Saturday afternoon at Lancaster Mennonite High School, the Little Dutchmen dropped a tough 2-1 overtime decision to the home-standing Blazers, in the quarterfinal round of the District Three Class A playoffs. Lancaster Mennonite’s Ellie Lefever tallied the decisive goal through some persistent effort, 45 seconds into the first seven-on-seven, golden-goal, ten-minute extra session.
The setback dropped sixth-seeded Annville-Cleona to 14-6 overall and into the loser’s bracket of the District Three Class A tournament. With the top five District Three finishers advancing to the state playoffs, the Little Dutchmen must win their next two games – the first of which will be played Wednesday against an opponent and at a site and time yet to be determined – to make it.
On Wednesday at Palmyra High School’s OAL Sports Complex, Annville-Cleona had advanced to the quarterfinals by outscoring Biglerville 3-1 in a shootout, after regulation and two overtime periods of their opener had ended in a one-all draw.
With the victory, third-seeded Lancaster Mennonite improved to 16-2 on the fall, and advanced to Wednesday’s District Three Class A semifinals. Way back on September 7 in Annville, the Blazers had dealt the Little Dutchmen a 2-1 loss in their season opener.
“Our seniors are great and we have two awesome captains – Allison Cooper and Erin Schrader,” said Annville-Cleona head coach Carrie Gingrich. “They were part of the freshman class in my first year as head coach, so I started in the program with them. Our senior group consists of good leaders and strong players. We’re definitely going to miss them when we’re done.
“These girls are really hard workers,” continued Gingrich. “They want to get better. We keep improving each game. But it does get to be a long season. I’ve had teams in the past who haven’t gotten better. They were just done.”
Following a spirited four quarters of regulation, Lefever took matters into her own hands during the opening seconds of overtime. She gained control of a loose ball on the Annville-Cleona side of the field and got off a quick shot on Little Dutchmen keeper Grace Coleman.
Initially, Coleman was equal to the task. But persistence paid off for Lefever, who kept poking at the ball until it emerged from the scramble and trickled into the cage.
“We made a mistake, and they (the Blazers) got possession after we crossed it (the ball),” said Gingrich. “We should’ve pushed it wide. They picked it up, took it to the goal and got that shot off.
“We played much better than we did on Wednesday,” added Gingrich. “Our passing was much better in the second half. We had some nice passing sequences.”
Down 1-0 early, Annville-Cleona came up with the equalizer, with 5:17 left in the first half.
Off a corner, the ball was played from left to right, where senior Braetan Peters was stationed at the post. Her initial attempt was denied by Lancaster Mennonite goalie Heidi Gbotoe, but Peters stayed with the play and scored by following her own rebound.
Less than four hours earlier, Peters had won her second straight District Three Class A individual cross country championship, while pacing the Little Dutchmen to the event’s team title.
“It should’ve been a goal or a stroke to begin with,” said Gingrich of Peters’ second postseason goal. “It was all a mess in there. Braetan just kept shooting to get it in.”
Lancaster Mennonite struck first, a mere 5:49 into the contest, to assume a 1-0 edge. That goal came off a rebound as well.
After a teammate had put a good shot on net, Blazer Hailey Nelson was alert, and after controlling the carom and going right, Nelson wristed the ball into the net.
“I was thinking that,” said Gingrich, to the notion that the setback was easier to absorb because it wasn’t season-ending. “Still, we were so close and we had a couple of opportunities. No loss is ever easy. Now we’ve got to win out to get to states.
“We played them (the Blazers) in the very first game of the season, and we knew something about them,” Gingrich continued. “But we’ve changed so much since that game. We’ve become a so much better team. We played much better today, and they (the Blazers) played much better today.”
According to the final scorebook, Lancaster Mennonite out shot Annville-Cleona to the tune of 14-6. The Blazers also enjoyed a 9-4 advantage in penalty corners.
| Opponents | Outcomes | ||
| 9/07 4:00 pm | Lancaster Mennonite at Annville-Cleona | 2 1 | Nonleague |
| 9/09 4:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Lancaster Country Day | 4 0 | Nonleague |
| 9/13 4:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Elco | 0 2 | League |
| 9/14 4:00 pm | McCaskey at Annville-Cleona | 2 3 | League |
| 9/18 10:00 am | Annville-Cleona at Middletown | 8 0 | Nonleague |
| 9/20 4:00 pm | Garden Spot at Annville-Cleona | 1 3 | League |
| 9/22 4:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Lebanon | 2 0 | League |
| 9/24 4:00 pm | Elco at Annville-Cleona | 1 2 | League |
| 9/25 10:00 am | Annville-Cleona at Kutztown | 7 1 | Nonleague |
| 9/28 4:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at McCaskey | 2 1 | League |
| 9/30 4:00 pm | Solanco at Annville-Cleona | 1 4 | League |
| 10/02 10:00 am | Annville-Cleona at Garden Spot | 1 2 | League |
| 10/05 4:00 pm | Lebanon at Annville-Cleona | 1 3 | League |
| 10/06 4:00 pm | Berks Catholic at Annville-Cleona | 3 2 | Nonleague |
| 10/08 4:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Northern Lebanon | 5 0 | Nonleague |
| 10/14 4:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Solanco | 4 0 | League |
| 10/16 2:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Manheim Township | 0 3 | League Playoff |
| 10/27 7:00 pm | Biglerville Annville-Cleona at Palmyra | Playoff | |
| 10/30 1:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Lancaster Mennonite | Playoff |
| A | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP | TWPW | OWPW | TWPL | OWPL |
| 1*** | Oley Valley | 16- | 1- | 0 | 0.759856 | 0.949367 | 0.528231 | 15.00 | 155.30 | 0.80 | 138.70 |
| 2*** | Greenwood | 16- | 1- | 0 | 0.747068 | 0.945946 | 0.503995 | 14.00 | 151.40 | 0.80 | 149.00 |
| 3*** | Lancaster Mennonite | 15- | 1- | 0 | 0.704742 | 0.928571 | 0.431173 | 13.00 | 118.40 | 1.00 | 156.20 |
| 4*** | Boiling Springs | 16- | 2- | 0 | 0.681423 | 0.869048 | 0.452105 | 14.60 | 148.20 | 2.20 | 179.60 |
| 5*** | Bermudian Springs | 16- | 2- | 0 | 0.654897 | 0.867470 | 0.395085 | 14.40 | 125.40 | 2.20 | 192.00 |
| 6*** | Annville-Cleona | 13- | 4- | 0 | 0.601613 | 0.755814 | 0.413146 | 13.00 | 123.20 | 4.20 | 175.00 |
| 7*** | Littlestown | 14- | 4- | 0 | 0.590071 | 0.743902 | 0.402055 | 12.20 | 125.20 | 4.20 | 186.20 |
| 8*** | Susquehanna Township | 14- | 4- | 0 | 0.576017 | 0.744444 | 0.370162 | 13.40 | 118.60 | 4.60 | 201.80 |
| 9*** | Newport | 10- | 6- | 1 | 0.553547 | 0.571429 | 0.531693 | 9.60 | 157.70 | 7.20 | 138.90 |
| 10*** | Schuylkill Valley | 9- | 6- | 1 | 0.533324 | 0.546667 | 0.517017 | 8.20 | 142.80 | 6.80 | 133.40 |
| 11*** | Biglerville | 13- | 5- | 0 | 0.529429 | 0.647059 | 0.385660 | 11.00 | 122.10 | 6.00 | 194.50 |
| 12*** | Susquenita | 11- | 6- | 1 | 0.515761 | 0.561798 | 0.459494 | 10.00 | 141.80 | 7.80 | 166.80 |
| 13*** | Northern Lebanon | 7- | 9- | 0 | 0.455074 | 0.395062 | 0.528422 | 6.40 | 141.30 | 9.80 | 126.10 |
| 14*** | Bishop McDevitt (3) | 9- | 8- | 0 | 0.452571 | 0.471264 | 0.429723 | 8.20 | 133.30 | 9.20 | 176.90 |
| 15 | Kennard Dale | 9- | 8- | 0 | 0.426234 | 0.476744 | 0.364499 | 8.20 | 107.60 | 9.00 | 187.60 |
| 16 | Hamburg | 9- | 9- | 0 | 0.415711 | 0.466667 | 0.353432 | 8.40 | 110.20 | 9.60 | 201.60 |
| 17 | Octorara | 8- | 9- | 1 | 0.412470 | 0.440860 | 0.377770 | 8.20 | 109.10 | 10.40 | 179.70 |
| 18 | Lancaster Catholic | 9- | 8- | 0 | 0.412400 | 0.481928 | 0.327422 | 8.00 | 96.00 | 8.60 | 197.20 |
| 19 | Wyomissing | 6- | 9- | 2 | 0.397953 | 0.370787 | 0.431157 | 6.60 | 121.50 | 11.20 | 160.30 |
| 20 | Hanover (3) | 7- | 10- | 1 | 0.367418 | 0.357895 | 0.379058 | 6.80 | 119.10 | 12.20 | 195.10 |
| 21 | Camp Hill | 5- | 12- | 0 | 0.353368 | 0.266667 | 0.459336 | 4.80 | 141.20 | 13.20 | 166.20 |
| 22 | Eastern York | 5- | 10- | 2 | 0.352029 | 0.297753 | 0.418367 | 5.30 | 123.00 | 12.50 | 171.00 |
| 23 | Tulpehocken | 5- | 13- | 0 | 0.303249 | 0.219780 | 0.405267 | 4.00 | 126.20 | 14.20 | 185.20 |
| 24 | Lancaster Country Day School | 2- | 12- | 1 | 0.301200 | 0.132530 | 0.507353 | 2.20 | 131.10 | 14.40 | 127.30 |
| 25 | Brandywine Heights | 3- | 13- | 0 | 0.271607 | 0.155556 | 0.413448 | 2.80 | 115.60 | 15.20 | 164.00 |
| 26 | Fairfield | 3- | 12- | 0 | 0.268936 | 0.156627 | 0.406203 | 2.60 | 108.70 | 14.00 | 158.90 |
| 27 | Kutztown | 2- | 15- | 1 | 0.241687 | 0.120000 | 0.390415 | 2.40 | 122.20 | 17.60 | 190.80 |
| 28 | Delone Catholic | 1- | 16- | 0 | 0.235648 | 0.060606 | 0.449588 | 1.20 | 131.10 | 18.60 | 160.50 |
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