Gates Closes Stable Door on Mounties

Gates Closes Stable Door on Mounties

CRESSON, Pa. – After starting out sluggish and allowing a physical and fast Mt. Aloysius to take a first half 1-0 lead; the Lions came out firing for the final 45 minutes. 

In the first five minutes of the second half Harrisburg's Kara Hoy (Camp Hill, Pa/ Camp Hill) took a well-placed free kick from midfield to a perfectly timed Fay Ansary (Hershey, Pa/ Hershey) run that slotted it past the Mountie Goalkeeper to even things at 1-1.  The Lions kept pressing hard.  A quick throw in was able to find a sprinting Hannah Jorich (Middletown, Pa/ Middletown) who cruised by the last line of defense near the end line before crossing the ball perfectly to Ansary for her second goal of the day. 

Rachel Shetler (Pequea, Pa. / Penn Manor) gave Harrisburg some breathing room after taking a pass from attacking defender Kristin Peckman (Chambersburg, Pa. / James Buchanan)and immediately cruyffed  the ball, her all-time favorite move, setting up a left footed ripper from just outside the 18 yard box.

Up 3-1 and feeling confident the Blue and white tried to sit back and run down the clock to victory.  Still having over 20 minutes to play was too much time with the intensity Mt. Aloysius was playing with. 

The Harrisburg defensive lapses combined with the Mounties speed up top allowed for the multiple 1v1 opportunities in the final ten minutes.  Despite scoring one goal with 7 minutes left to play making the score 3-2, Goalkeeper Mackenzie Gates (Harrisburg, Pa. / Central Dauphin) completely shut down the Mounite's multiple final attempts for the comeback.  Gates single handily stopped three 1v1 opportunities in the final minutes sacrificing her body for the team and the win.

"I was very proud of the way we responded physically and offensively in the second half. We still need to clean up our technical and tactical mistakes so we put away winnable games earlier instead of allowing them to become a battle of will alone." Coach Clay was quoted following the match. 

Harrisburg is becoming a bigger target at 3-0 and will travel to Albright Wednesday for a 7:00 kickoff in hopes of staying undefeated.