MILLVILLE -- It was like the last week of the District 4 Class AA girls soccer playoffs were scripted by a Hollywood writer making a Disney sports movie about Lewisburg.
It began on Tuesday with a win over Loyalsock, a team that's had the Green Dragons' number over the last two seasons, in the semifinals. Then Thursday night they had to follow it up by knocking off the defending state champions, Montoursville, to claim the school's first district title in girls soccer.
Don't forget to add some drama in the final as the Green Dragons had to hold a one-goal lead for 71 minutes, most of the time without one of their top defensive players.
Oh yeah, was it mentioned the only goal came off the foot of a freshman?
A dream season continued for the Lewisburg girls soccer team when an Emily Cole goal 8:49 into the first half stood up thanks to a stout Lewisburg defensive effort as the Green Dragons defeated the Warriors 1-0 at Millard C. Ludwig Memorial Field.
"(The district title) means everything to us," midfielder/defender Jade Kerstetter said. "We wanted it so badly."
Lewisburg (19-2-1) will face Montrose, the District 2 champion, on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined. Montoursville (16-4-2) will face the District 11 champion, Tamaqua, also on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.
The Green Dragons' goal came with 31:11 left in the first half on a defensive mistake deep in the Warriors' end. The ball ended up in the goalie box, where Montoursville's goalie had a decision to make -- race Cole to the ball or sit back wait for the shot. She chose to race Cole for the ball. Cole won the foot race, made a little move to elude the goalie on the ground and didn't miss the wide open net.
"The defense had some sort of miscommunication and I saw the goalie come out. I just made a move around her," Cole said. "When you shoot at an open net, there's always an Uh-oh, I hope I don't miss a wide-open goal,' but it went in.
"It felt great."
The game was in the hands of the Lewisburg defense the rest of the way. Goalie Jenna Wargo had eight saves, while backs Ines Antensteiner and Andrea Cole did an outstanding job clearing some long balls by the Warriors.
"We knew that Montoursville plays the ball well down the sides of the field and makes some outstanding crosses," Lewisburg coach Jose Vega said. "We had to do a good job of marking one-on-one and the defense stepped up."
That defense took a hit when Antensteiner was hurt with one second left in the half and didn't return.
"I was very scared. Me, Ines and Andrea have been playing together so long. We connect so well and always know what the others are going to do," Wargo said. "With one of them out, it made me real nervous."
Kerstetter moved back to defense at halftime and was pretty nervous herself.
"I don't play that position and I had to go back there because Ines got hurt," Kerstetter said. "I just went out gave it my all."
Montoursville put the new-look defense to the test right away in the second half. The Warriors had a shot on goal just 30 seconds into the half and made several runs at the Lewisburg net. But after Montoursville was awarded a corner kick 10 minutes into the half, it seemed like things began to jell on defense.
"I think after a certain point we started to talk more and knew we didn't have to yell at each other," Kerstetter said. "We started to understand how each other play. It was just that the first few minutes were shaky."
The Warriors had little opportunity to score until late in the game, Lana Spitler got free from the defense and scored with 4:44 left, but she was offsides, negating the score.
Lewisburg led in shots, 12-11. Montoursville led corners, 4-3. Audra Larson had nine saves for the Warriors.
n District 4 Class A Championship
East Juniata 4,
Benton 0
MILLVILLE -- East Juniata won its first-ever District 4 Class A soccer championship on Thursday night with a relatively easy victory over Benton at Millard C. Ludwig Field.
East Juniata won a District 3 title in 2002.
East Juniata (17-3-1) will face the loser of the District 3 championship game, either Camp Hill or Biglerville. Benton (18-4) will play the winner of the championship game. The District 3 Class A championship game is set for Saturday at HersheyPark Stadium.
Mitchell Goodling, Christian Dressler, Brandon Dressler and Nathan Troup all had goals for East Juniata.
East Juniata led in shots 9-6 and corners 5-2. David Root had five saves for Benton. Ryan Swartwood had three stops for East Juniata.
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