By DAVE BYRNE, Correspondent
Lancaster New Era
Published: Oct 26, 2007 9:30 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. – A speedy offensive attack carried Hempfield to 15 victories this year, but the Black Knights could not have foreseen a speedy exit from the District 3 Triple-A soccer tournament.
Shane Jordan’s score 30 minutes in was the only goal of the game, and Mechanicsburg made it stand for a 1-0 upset victory Thursday night at Hempfield.
“(Shane’s) stepped up the last couple of games and scored some big goals for us,” said Wildcats’ coach Tony Lougee.
Few bigger than this one.
The 14th-seeded Wildcats (15-5-2) braved an early storm of Black Knight opportunities. Once they got the lead, they played eight or nine men behind the ball for the entire second half and left with their second 1-0 win of the tournament.
Mechanicsburg beat Gettysburg by the same score in its play-in game on Monday.
“District game, up 1-0, you try and hold the lead — that’s the name of the game,” said Hempfield coach Brendan Cregan, whose Black Knights entered the tournament as the third seed behind defending District champion Manheim Township and Red Land.
The name of the game, at least for Hempfield, was “unlucky”.
Unleashing the soccer equivalent of a no-huddle, two-minute-drill attack, the Black Knights (15-5-2) pulled Mechanicsburg into a race up-and-down the pitch.
“We knew that’s what the pace was going to be,” Lougee said.
“It was back and forth and that was fine. I trusted our goalkeeper and our defense.”
His trust was sorely tested as the Knights put together six great scoring opportunities in the first 26 minutes.
In the first 6:30, Dan Haldeman was just wide with a shot deflected by ‘Cats keeper Sam Burkholder, Matt DeMascola headed a ball off the upper right corner of the goal post and Burkholder made a great save on Forrest Moul’s shot.
In an extended trip in the offensive third, carrying from the 16th to 18th minutes, Burkholder (10 saves) blanked Andy Hollinger, then leaped to catch Keegan Nauman’s riser.
Finally, in the 26th minute, Moul bent a blast from the left side that struck, yet again, the right corner of the post and crossbar.
“We had some good opportunities, hit some crossbars,” said Cregan. “It just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”
During the onslaught, Mechanicsburg wasn’t content to sit back and take it.
The Wildcats, two years removed from a District championship game loss to Pequea Valley, returned just three starters from a team that defeated Hempfield 3-0 in last year’s Triple-A quarterfinals.
But two of those three were Gye Panuccio and Shane Jordan, a pair of three-year veterans.
Panuccio, the ‘Cats’ leading scorer with 18 goals, logged as many miles roaming from touchline to touchline Thursday as he did from the goal line to midfield, always alert for an opportunity to go on offense.
He got his chances, the best coming midway through the first half when he bananaed a free kick from the left side, five yards off the top of the box, and hit the crossbar.
Ten minutes later, with both sides slowing visibly, Panuccio sent a ball ahead to Jordan, who carried into the Hempfield box.
Knights’ keeper Kyle King came off his line to challenge Jordan, cutting the angle, but Jordan deflected the ball off King, recovered, and pounded it into the right side of the net.
“He (King) had to come out. He had no choice,” said Cregan. “You’re going to have bounces like that and you hope you’re on the positive end of some of them.”
They didn’t on Thursday.
Despite the Wildcats packing in behind midfield, Hempfield had its chances in the second half — and finished with a 15-10 advantage in shots — just not the quality of those opening rushes.
Hollinger and DeMascola tested Burkholder in the 55th minute and the Knights had five opportunities in the last 4:10, including two headers by Ben Durst, the second coming as the clock rolled zeroes.
CONTACT US: dbyrne@LNPnews.com
