Lake-Lehman holds off late Selinsgrove surge
Sep. 25—SELINSGROVE — When Selinsgrove finally hammered a ball through the middle of the field that Lake-Lehman didn't thwart, Lexy Freed bolted into the open for a rare breakaway.
The Seals' senior, working at forward for the first time this season, raced toward the cage from the left side as Knights goalie Ruby Sorber whacked the post with her stick twice in anticipation of a shot. Freed ripped the ball from about 10 feet, and Sorber deftly swatted it away with her glove.
Instead of deflating Selinsgrove — which faced a two-goal deficit with about seven minutes to play — the play energized the Seals like nothing before on a dreary night at Bolig Stadium.
Carly Aument scored her team-high 10th goal soon after, and Selinsgrove earned a pair of late penalty corners, coming within mere inches of an equalizer before time expired on a 2-1 nonleague loss.
The Seals (7-4), who had won two in row and five of six, is still unbeaten in Heartland Athletic Conference-Division I play ahead of Saturday morning's matchup with co-leader Lewisburg (6-1, 3-0).
"Going into this game we knew Lewisburg beat Lake-Lehman, and we wanted this really bad," said Selinsgrove senior mid Ali Beddall. "We started flat, but I think towards the end that's the momentum we need to bring into Lewisburg."
Lake-Lehman (4-3), which was labeled one of the state's teams to watch in regional rankings by MAXFieldHockey.com, snapped a two-game skid.
Knights senior forward Ava Kopp, a Central Michigan recruit, scored after a long run down the middle of the field just more than six minutes into the game. Callie Dieffenbacher then added a clutch goal out of a corner scramble just 19.4 seconds before halftime.
"The District 2 style of play is no secret — big hitters, long balls, kids that can create in the circle — and we did not do a good job in the first half of staying with marks, finding marks, (or) playing good one-on-one defense," said Seals coach Roz Erb. "We just let too many opportunities come up the middle."
Selinsgrove had a sequence of four penalty corners in the opening five minutes — including Beddall's reverse-stick shot that dinged the right post — but Lehman defended well and turned the ball quickly upfield. That became a trend, the Knights stifling the Seals' attack farther from the cage and booming the ball 20 or 30 yards across the turf to a waiting stick.
In the first half, it often caught Selinsgrove flat-footed, and Klopp created looks for herself and teammate Gracie James on the left side. Bella DeCesaris slammed long balls on a diagonal line twice early in the second quarter, but Selinsgrove began to step to the ball better in the circle. Emma Petersen cleared the ball on two separate corners.
"We started strong because we had some offensive possession, but then we ran out of gas a little bit," Erb said. "We just didn't pressure the balls coming out of their backfield, (which) allowed them to make some big hits. We adjusted at halftime, actually changed formation to try to shore that up."
Klopp was less of a factor in the second half, as was Lehman's attack on the whole. The Knights managed just three second-half shots after triggering nine in the first.
"During halftime we really hit on marking," Beddall said. "We switched up our system a little bit — we moved more people to the backfield, so we had more bodies back there — and we really hit on not letting them get (the ball) through the center and pushing it out to the sidelines."
The Seals, who endured stretches of 12 and 13 game minutes between penalty corners, earned four in the final 10 minutes. The first saw Freed hit a ball at the left post that squeezed harmlessly between the post and Alli Bucher's stick. That was followed by Freed's breakaway chance and another corner, during which Aument crashed into the middle of the circle to finish a rebound up into the netting with 6:06 to play.
Bucher was credited with her 11th assist of the season, one more than the 73-point scorer totaled in her first three seasons. Bucher had a sure goal erased with 4:30 to play when Sorber sprawled toward the left post and stretched her stick to block the ball. The ball was cleared by DeCesaris on an ensuing corner.
Lexi Felty, who had a defensive save earlier, had a takeaway that resulted in Selinsgrove's last corner with 68 seconds to play. Beddall's shot from the right side of the circle stayed wide.
"We kept trying to bang the ball down the middle too much," said Erb. "When we transferred the ball and free hits out of the backfield we made some things happen. Our kids know that. We just lost our minds for a little bit."
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LAKE-LEHMAN 2, SELINSGROVE 1
First quarter
LL-Ava Klopp, 8:39.
Second quarter
LL-Callie Dieffenbacher (Sage Morgan), 19.4.
Fourth quarter
S-Carly Aument (Alli Bucher), 6:06.
Shots: LL 11-7. Corners: S 10-7. Cards: None. Defensive saves: S, Lexi Felty. Saves: Lake-Lehman 7 (Ruby Sorber); Selinsgrove 8 (Bella Auman).
JV score: Selinsgrove 1-0. Goal: Maddy Sprenkle (Kaydence Feese).
