By Jeffrey Kauffman, Sentinel Reporter, April 3, 2009

Last updated: Friday, April 3, 2009 12:57 AM EDT

Mechanicsburg rallied with three goals in the final 23 minutes to take a Mid-Penn crossover match with Chambersburg 3-2 at Northside Soccer Stadium on Thursday night.

In the first half, Mechanicsburg’s Ariel Arnold ripped a couple shots over the top of the net while Lexie Lentz and Chelsea Amsley hit shots just wide of the net.

Chambersburg (3-1) finally dented the net with just over 22 minutes left. Tori Ricker lofted a ball over the defense that Wildcats goalkeeper Nicki Keiser had to come off her line to cover up. However, the ball deflected off her and she caught Amsley’s foot, resulting in a tripping foul, a penalty kick and a yellow card on Keiser.

Keiser came off for five minutes and was replaced by Shelby Koch. Trojans’ Jade Flory slotted the penalty kick into the corner for the goal.

Early in the second half, Flory gave the Trojans a two-goal advantage, heading a cross from Amsley into the far corner.

Midway through the second half, Mechanicsburg’s Alie Zelenky countered a Chambersburg shot off the cross with a goal scored at the other end, on a cross from Holly Burgard.

Mechanicsburg (2-1-1) later evened the score on an Ali Matisse direct kick.

Five minutes after, Taylor Jones took a ball to the right corner. Her cross sailed to Zelenky, who got the ball to the ground where Megan Meteja drilled it home for the go-ahead goal.

“I think we just had to keep our heads up,” Zelenky said. “We had a difficult game Tuesday against Lower Dauphin but we felt that we could play with them.

“We made plays when we had to. Our defense has played very well”

The Trojans rallied and placed the pressure on the Wildcats. A knockdown gave the Trojans a direct kick from just outside the box, but Amsley’s blast hit a wall of Mechanicsburg defenders.

Keiser had to go high to tap one over the crossbar in the final minute. The resulting corner was knocked aside and cleared.

“I am really happy,” Wildcats coach Tony Lougee said. “We could have rolled up when it was 2-0. We had a long game (double-overtime tie) Tuesday and we are a bit beat-up but they kept battling and never let up.

“This is what you are supposed to be playing for. It was just a good effort.”

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Mechanicsburg, Pa. -

The Waynesboro Maidens soccer team played in its first match in the Mid-Penn Keystone Division Thursday against the Mechanicsburg Wildcats.

The hosts were anything but hospitable, as the ’Cats scored four first-half goals and added three in the second half to defeat Waynesboro 7-0.

“It was a tough game. Mechanicsburg is a quality team,” said first-year Waynesboro coach Rich Hetzer. “They are strong from top to bottom. They pass very well and play their system perfectly.”

The Maidens (2-1) were coming off easy wins in their first two matches against Shippensburg and Greencastle-Antrim. Hetzer knew Thursday’s game would be a much more difficult test for his team.

“I think my girls came off the bus very flat,” he said. “They just didn’t seem ready to play. We had some trouble understanding who we were supposed to mark on defense and Mechanicsburg took full advantage of that.”

Tough outing

Waynesboro held its ground for the first 18 minutes of a scoreless contest. But the Wildcats found the net at the 18:45 mark of the first half on a goal by Ali Matisse with an assist from Ariel Arnold. Arnold followed less than four minutes later with another goal.

At 33:53, Holly Burgard scored with the assist coming from Taylor Jones. Allie Zelenky kicked in another goal with just 15 seconds to play in the half, with Jones picking up her second assist.
Paige Alexander scored 1:31 into the second half and Zelenky followed 19 minutes later with Mechanicsburg’s sixth goal. Alexander closed out the scoring with a goal in the 78th minute.

“I think Katie Sandifer played an excellent game,” said Hetzer. “And, despite the outcome, Amanda Ochoa played a good game and made some very nice saves, or the outcome could have been even worse.”

Ochoa made 10 saves for Waynesboro, while Mechanicsburg’s Nicki Keiser had four saves. The Wildcats outshot the Maidens 28-8 and had a 3-1 edge in corner kicks.

Waynesboro next plays Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cumberland Valley in a non-league match. The next league contest is March 31 at home against Palmyra.

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By Jeffrey Kauffman, Sentinel Reporter, March 27, 2009

Last updated: Friday, March 27, 2009 1:57 AM EDT

From start to finish, this was Mechanicsburg’s game.

The Wildcats rebounded from a tough 4-0 loss to Red Land on Tuesday with a 7-0 victory over Waynesboro on Thursday at a rainy Northside Elementary soccer stadium.“

Red Land has a great team and played well,” Wildcats head coach Tony Lougee said. “Tuesday was an eye-opener for our girls even though I thought we didn’t play terribly, but we didn’t play crisp. The girls kind of took it to heart.”

Mechanicsburg goalkeeper Nicki Keiser came off her line several times to snatch up errant passes and through balls, but really only had to make one significant save. Waynesboro’s Molly Sanders fired a shot from 25 yards out but Keiser punched it over the crossbar for a Maidens corner.

Mechanicsburg had numerous scoring opportunities early, but shots were sent over the top or wide of the net. The Wildcats finally got on the board in the 21st minute as midfielder Ariel Arnold fed a through ball that Ali Matisse deposited in the net.

Less than two minutes later, freshman Holly Burgard sent Alie Zelenky in clear but her shot to the far post just missed and rolled out of bounds.

Arnold added to the goal total as she sent home a deflection off the keeper for the 2-0 edge. They would add to the score about ten minutes later as Burgard knocked one home on a deflection off the crossbar on a shot by Brooke Denison.

Maidens keeper Amanda Ochoa had 11 saves, several of which could have easily been in the back of the net due to the wetness of the field and the ball skipping through. The game could have easily been in double figures without her.

The Maidens also played without two of their starters as Michel Sanders and Jenna Lininger did not play due to injuries.

Mechanicsburg’s midfield of Arnold and Matisse, and later Paige Alexander, continually sent their forward line of the Zelenky sisters — Jodie and Alie, as well as Megan Meteja and Taylor Jones — through on man-advantage situations. They capitalized on the situations as the Wildcats scored seven goals, all from this group.“

The kids came out and did what they needed to do,” Lougee said. “We can move the ball under pressure. Our young players played under control and composed and didn’t allow any chances. It was important for us to keep playing tonight. We don’t have a lot of subs. Waynesboro kept playing hard.”

Alie Zelenky added a second goal on a dish from Matisse and Jodie Zelenky, who draws a lot of attention from any defense, tallied a goal and added an assist when Alexander ripped a laser into the upper 90 in the left corner from the edge of the penalty area.“

We played much quicker through the midfield tonight, especially Jodie Zelenky,” Alexander said. “Our younger kids played well tonight. Our defense played well tonight and Nicki back there made a really big save on that one. I didn’t think she had that one but she just kind of knocked it over the crossbar.“

We played much better tonight than Tuesday. We didn’t play well that night but we had a lot of people who played on the weekend on club teams.”

Alexander led the defensive charge in the first half but she certainly had some help as Emma Galinski, Rose White and Kristen Fisher took charge and transitioned the ball from the defensive to offensive ends. They allowed the Maidens forwards very little room to operate and communicated well with each other.

Mechanicsburg travels to Lower Dauphin for a game on Tuesday and returns to Northside on Thursday against Chambersburg at 6:30 p.m.