TodayDefending the Eagles nest
CV shuts out Carlisle, breaks 0-0 halftime tie for victory.
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Jason Malmont/The Sentinel
Carlisle's Allie Breschi, right, drives up the field as Cumberland Valley's Lindsay Kissinger (2) gives chase Monday afternoon.
Jason Malmont/The Sentinel
Emily Martin (right) of Carlisle battles Cumberland Valley's Beth Pirtle for possession of the ball Monday.
Cumberland Valley took a big step toward the District 3 field hockey playoffs with a 3-0 victory over the struggling Carlisle Thundering Herd at the Cumberland Valley Educational Park on Monday.
The loss damages the Herd’s chances at a district playoff spot — they must defeat or tie visiting Central Dauphin on Wednesday to garner a spot in the play-in round.
Both teams battled hard throughout the first half and each team had their opportunities. Cumberland Valley had two good chances, but both shots were deflected wide by Bethany Hench and Maddie Breschi in the early going.
Eagles keeper Janelle Howard had two big saves on a Rachel West drive and a Senada Mehmedovic shot in the arc.
Mehmedovic had a good scoring chance later in the half but Cara Weist made a great defensive play to knock the ball away and clear it out.
“Cara has made several plays like that this year,” Eagles coach Patrick Weigle said. “She has probably saved us four or five goals this year alone by being that last person behind the keeper. She is probably one of the smartest defenders we have ever had here. She may not be the fastest player but she knows when to attack and when to stay back. You can’t measure how important that is.”
The first half ended in a scoreless tie that would not have been without the defensive efforts of both teams.
“Both teams were emotionally invested in this game,” Weigle said. “They had their chances but a couple of their shots were just outside the net. If one of those finds the net, this is a whole different game.
Cumberland Valley got an early corner in the second half and made it count. Julie Alspaugh sent in a cross from the right side and Leah Guerra, perched on the left post, made the easy tap-in for the score.
Carlisle had its best chance moments later as Rachel West beat three defenders down the right side of the field and sent a cross through the crease, but CV defender Kait Williamson was the only one there and cleared it out.
Offensive pressure from the Eagles created two corners and CV capitalized on the second one. Herd keeper Leah Innes kicked out a shot that gave the Eagles their second corner. Lauren Mariano deflected a loose ball into the cage for the second goal.
Moments later, Alyson Tamanini tapped home a Lindsey Kissinger cross for the third goal.
“We didn’t have the ball in the offensive end much the second half but when you put the ball on goal and score a goal it make a difference,” Weigle said.
The Herd did have several chances but could not find the back of the cage.
Weigle credited his two assistant coaches for his team’s shutout.
“Julie Weigle and Susan Gibson said we need to not let (Mehmedovic) beat us so they said we should mark her everywhere,” Weigle said of his two assistants. “Julie Alspaugh did a nice job of staying on her. She has 18 goals so she is dangerous. We couldn’t afford to let her beat us.”
Carlisle garnered 13 corners but generated only three shots from those corners.
“It was very disappointing,” Herd coach Devon Collier said. “We have had a lot of missed opportunities. We only had six shots on 13 corners and you can’t win if you don’t put shots on goal. You can’t score goals if you don’t get shots. We did not execute on our corners.
“We played a good 30 minutes but you have to play all 60 minutes.”
