Cocalico edges Ephrata in OT

Cocalico’s Sydney Costanza (right) is trailed by the Ephrata defender as she carries up the field during Monday’s game at Talon Field. Photo by Denise Mitchell

Cocalico senior Skyra Heckman was in the right place at the right time Monday night vs. Ephrata at Talon Field.

As the clock trickled down to the final seconds of overtime, Ephrata keeper Lexi Jones denied an initial shot from the side by Hannah Custer off a corner. But the ball trickled out in front of a wide open cage where Heckman was waiting. She calmly deposited it in the back of the cage with 36 seconds left in the extra session to give Cocalico the exciting 4-3 victory over the Lady Mounts.

“We decided that I was going to take the initial shot and have the girls on post for the rebound right away,” Cocalico senior Brianna Keeney, who initiated the final play from the top of the circle, said. “(Heckman) was right there, shot it and it went in. It was an amazing feeling.”

Cocalico led three different times in this game but Ephrata responded with a clutch game-tying goal each time. Still, the Lady Eagles showed some resilience of their own, rallying each time before getting the gamewinner near the end of the 15-minute overtime session.

“That’s been our big focus this year,” Cocalico Coach Brynn Gallagher said. “We told the girls, ‘you are going to get scored on, and you are going to feel like you’re not winning in that moment.’ But we’ve really been working on what is the next step and where can we go from here? We’ve been working on some mindset things because the skill has always been there. The past couple years it’s been just more of a mindset for us, I also think winning some of these games is going to help. We work on getting them to think more positive and to just go out there and expect to win.”

Keeney led the way for Cocalico Monday with a goal and two assists. Custer added a goal and an assist while fellow freshman Madison Weaver also scored as the Lady Eagles won their second-straight game after starting the year 0-3.

“It’s our second win of the season and I think it’s really going to pull the girls out of our slump and really give us some confidence,” Keeney said. “Now we know what we can do and this is what we’re going to do.”

While Ephrata ended up on the losing end, falling to 1-3 overall, Coach Joy Rice said she saw some progress despite the setback.

“This hurts and we are disappointed, but like I told the girls, I think we have improved every single game,” she said. “And we’re not the team that is going to start the season where we are going to end the season. It takes us unfortunately a bunch of games to get in the flow and get our younger kids caught up. Our first game against Warwick was like a lull, but we are steadily improving and moving along. We were happy with the way a lot of people played tonight. I hate losing but I feel like we are moving in the right direction.”

Cocalico struck first with 10:49 remaining in the first half. Off a corner, Custer was stationed in front and deflected a Keeney shot from the top of the circle into the cage for the 1-0 lead.

But Ephrata, which was bottled up offensively for most of the first half, finally got some pressure and was rewarded with 2:57 to go when Megan Mahlandt’s reverse stick lift sailed over keeper Summer Haldeman and into the cage to tie the game at 1-1.

Five minutes into the second half, Keeney helped the Lady Eagles regain the lead at 2-1 off another corner when she received the inserted pass, dribbled to the middle and ripped a shot into the cage.

Ephrata then ramped up the pressure over the next 10 minutes, but Haldeman (6 saves) was equal to the task. But the Lady Mounts kept up the pressure and were finally rewarded when Meg McCracken tipped in a shot by Rionnah Neufeld to knot it back up at 2-2 with 16:45 to go.

But each team would get one more goal in regulation. First, Weaver poked one into the cage after a scramble in front to give Cocalico its third lead of the game at 3-2 with 11:33 left in regulation. But a little more than a minute later, Mahlandt got her second goal of the game and the equalizer with a lift from the top of the circle that found the cage.

Ephrata, which out-shot Cocalico 10-6 for the game, had the better of the chances down the stretch but couldn’t put one home, so the game went to 7-on-7 overtime.

The Lady Mounts played down a player for the first 1:10 of the period for a green card that was handed out late in regulation. They survived that, and had two great chances to win it. First, a deflection by Anne Sensenig just went wide of the cage with 6:20 to play in the extra session. Then with about five minutes to go, Madison Tihansky rung a shot off the post.

That set the stage for the final two minutes when Cocalico forced a pair of corners. Ephrata survived the first one but not the second as Heckman’s goal ended it in the final minute.

After beating Lancaster Mennonite 5-2 Saturday, Gallagher is hoping her team can carry the momentum of their two-game win streak into Wednesday’s game at Elizabethtown.

“They need to feel successful, so a little taste of that every now and then keeps them motivated,” she said. “I think moving forward, these two wins will be huge for us.”

In Saturday’s victory over Mennonite, Taylor Christy scored a hat trick for Cocalico while Weaver notched a pair of goals in the victory.

Haldeman made nine saves to earn the win in the cage.

Cocalico did drop a 3-1 decision to L-S Thursday, and was on the losing end of a 2-1 non-league decision against Tulpehocken last Wednesday.

As for Ephrata, the Lady Mounts trailed E-town 2-0 before tying the game with a pair of second half goals Thursday. However, the Bears got the gamewinner in a 3-2 victory in the game’s 20th minute.