This was a game decided by a couple of feet.
Palmyra scored with just over four minutes left in its contest with Mechanicsburg on Thursday to upset the Wildcats 2-1 at Northside Soccer Stadium and tighten the race for the Keystone Division championship.
Mechanicsburg dropped into the second spot — one win behind Hershey’s Trojans. Hershey has eight wins and one loss in the division, while the Wildcats have 7 wins and 1 loss. Hershey has to play both Mechanicsburg and Palmyra next week. The ‘Cats beat Hershey 1-0 in their first meeting this year.
Palmyra (5-5 Keystone, 10-5 overall) got a slick finish by Maddie Mitchell of a slotted ball by Katelyn Soucy for the game-winner. Soucy took a through ball from the midfield and edged around the left side of the Wildcat defense, took two dribbles along the baseline and dropped the ball to Mitchell, who one-timed the ball past Wildcat keeper Nicki Keiser on the short side.
Freshman Natalie Zelenky put the Wildcats on top early as she finished a shot just seven minutes into the game.
The Wildcats had several opportunities but couldn’t find the width of the cage, and they had several key chances in the final half but couldn’t find the top of the cage. They sailed at least three shots over the crossbar. At least seven shots were within several inches of the net, post or crossbar, where a ricochet could have been finished. Two shots sailed directly to the keeper.
Mechanicsburg (7-1-0 Keystone, 11-2-0 overall) entered the contest ranked No. 3 in the latest state soccer coaches’ poll. Hershey and Cumberland Valley are ranked at 4 and 5 in the state, respectively.
The regional rankings by the National Soccer Coaches Association have the Wildcats at No. 3 in the Mid-Atlantic region and nationally ranked at No. 17. Hershey is just behind the ‘Cats in both polls.
“They are a very good team,” said Wildcats coach Tony Lougee. “I know offensively they are very dangerous. I thought we were a step slow tonight, but Palmyra played well. We had our chances, but we couldn’t finish tonight.”
Defensively both teams played well. Palmyra did a nice job of bottling up the middle of the field and crunching numbers on Zelenky, forcing her to beat several players or get rid of the ball.
Carly Swope, Callie Good, Jessie Kulp and Kimberly Gottshall played a steady defense in front of keeper Casey Behrendt, who only needed to make three saves as the ‘Cats sent balls wide or over the top.
Both keepers, Behrendt and Keiser of the ‘Cats, played strong in coming off their lines to clear balls or come out to play balls with their feet to set up the attack.
Jodie Zelenky, Kirstin Fisher, Rose White and steady Emma Galinski anchored the ‘Cat defense, which linked through midfielders Ariel Arnold and Ali Matisse to force the Cougar defense to make plays.
“We thought we played well the first time against them, but we made a couple of mistakes,” said Cougar coach Craig Tyrrell. “We wanted to correct those mistakes, and I think we did that tonight. We had a couple of different players back there, which gave us a bit more speed. We gave them more shots than I wanted to see, but those three (Natalie Zelenky, Matisse and Holly Burgard) are a tough trio. This time we were a bit faster, and we were able to get a lot of 50-50 balls that we didn’t get the first time. We are playing well right now.”
Mechanicsburg returns to action Saturday night at Northern. They travel to Lower Dauphin Monday at 3:45 p.m. and host Hershey Tuesday at 6:30 at Northside. Palmyra hosts Coughlin from the Allentown area on Friday at 4:15 p.m.
To read the article by Jeff Kauffman, click here.
