Cedar Crest takes own tourney title

It was a rough week for the Cedar Crest field hockey team. At least it had been before Crest hosted its own Falcon Fall Classic at Earl Boltz Stadium on Saturday.

Entering the event licking its wounds from losses of 5-1 to Manheim Township and 8-0 to Penn Manor earlier in the week, Cedar Crest got the opportunity to take out some frustrations, routing Cedar Cliff 7-2 in the first round, then blanking Elco 5-0 in the tourney title game behind two goals each from Emily Hombach and Hanna Lewis.

Tyra Craun also scored for Cedar Crest (6-5), which was feeling a lot better about itself by late Saturday afternoon.

"I think so," Cedar Crest coach Dana Risser said to the suggestion that the Falcons took out some of their frustrations against Cedar Cliff and Elco. "We played hard Thursday night, Penn Manor's just a really good team.  But it was a tough week, and the kids were looking forward to today. We had a good day."

The Falcons (6-5) wasted no time making it so, jumping on Cedar Cliff for four first half goals - two by Hombach - and cruising into the title game, where Elco provided more resistance than the final score indicates.

Tyra Craun gave Crest a quick 1-0 lead by scoring off a corner 3:07 into the game, but the Raiders, led by goalie Kendra Bicksler (6 saves) and aggressive play from back Siearra Swingholm, dug in defensively until Hanna Lewis scored off an Emily Peters feed with just 1:03 left in the half.

Still, Elco, which dropped a key Section 3 tussle with Annville-Cleona 6-0 on Friday, took some positives out of the loss.

"They had an amazing first half. They played so hard, stepped into every single ball," Elco coach Lisa Kercher said of her squad. "They played a really, really good first half. But it kinda catches up to you when you had a game this morning, a game last night. That makes it a little difficult."

And that fatigue showed up after intermission, allowing Crest to break things open via Hombach's two goals and Lewis's second and win going away.

"They started out this morning with lots of energy," Risser said of her team. "We're not a team that plays real well when we're flat - obviously most teams don't - but we just had the energy and supported each other. We were just looking to get our ball movement going again and be aggressive on the attack."

Despite the championship game loss, Elco got itself going again as well on Saturday, using the split - it beat Spring Grove 3-0 in the first round - to move to 7-4-1 for the season.

"The girls were a little crushed (Friday) night," Kercher said. "They've been having such an awesome season. The season already is better than any they've ever had, and better than any I've had in my coaching career. And we've got some good games still coming up."

Championship
Cedar Crest 5, Elco 0
Elco 0 0 - 0
Cedar Crest 2 3 - 5
First half: CC- 1. Tyra Craun, 2. Hanna Lewis (Emily Peters)
Second half: CC - 3. Emily Hombach (Peters), 4. Hombach (Michaela Krause), 5. Lewis (Kathleen Steckbeck)
Shots: Cedar Crest 11, Elco 5
Saves: E - Kendra Bicksler (6 saves), CC: Hannah Funk (5 saves)
Corners: Cedar Crest 13, Elco 3
Consolation
Cedar Cliff 5, Spring Grove 0
First Round
Elco 3, Spring Grove 0
Spring Grove 0 0 - 0
Elco 1 2 - 3
First half: E -  1. Abbie Keath (Emily Witmer).
Second half:  E - 2. Witmer (Avah St. Onge), 3. Witmer (Katie Fields)
Shots: Elco 13, Spring Grove 1
Saves: E - Kendra Bicksler (1 save), SG: 10 saves
Corners: Elco 12, Spring Grove 2
Cedar Crest 7, Cedar Cliff 2
Cedar Cliff 1 1 — 2
Cedar Crest 4 3 — 7
First half — CC: Emily Hombach (Emily Peters),. 2. Cedar C rest, Emily Hombach (Emily Peters). 3. Cedar Crest, Casey Wawrzyniak (Kathleen Steckbeck), . 4. Cedar Crest, Sarah Dacko (Casey Wawrzyniak). 5. Cedar Cliff, Rocuskie (Emily Peters), 28:42.         
Second half — 1. Cedar Crest, Tasia Rutter , 3:23. 2. Cedar Crest, Emily Peters , 5:39. 3. Cedar Cliff, Rocuskie , 28:50. 
Shots: Cedar Crest 15. Cedar Cliff 4 
Saves: Gjorham, Cedar Cliff (8), Funk/Knapp, Cedar Crest (1/1)
Corners: Cedar Crest 13, Cedar Cliff 3.