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Ana Oeler’s goal lifts South girls to 1-0 win against Loyalsock at home

By Jon Gerardi 6 min read

Players on Loyalsock's bench and the Lancer coaches were yelling out how much time was left in the final minute as Loyalsock kept trying to press and get something going offensively. The Lancers trailed by a goal and wanted to put in an equalizer late and force overtime as the clock got down to 30 seconds.

But South Williamsport never allowed that to happen. The Mounties continued putting tough pressure on Loyalsock. The Lancers got one throughball into South's end of the field, but no shot came of it and once the clock horn went off, South was able to walk off the field with the hard-fought 1-0 win against rival Loyalsock at South Williamsport's Community Park on Saturday morning.

"I think the biggest thing we've seen, obviously being new this year and not watching them in the past but watching game film, all three of our games this year especially this one, the effort was there and the determination was there to at least try to knot it up," Loyalsock coach Pete Ruhl said. "We just couldn't put it in the net. I can't complain about the effort from the kids today."

The effort was there, but South Williamsport's adjustment in the second half helped the Mounties preserve the shutout victory over Loyalsock.

"We passed the ball better (in the second half). We talk a lot about passing to the feet if they're behind you or passing to the space if they're pushing up and you have it behind them," South Williamsport coach Marc Lovecchio said. "I thought we did that pretty well. Trying to get it into the space, trying to get those slip passes and/or passing it to the feet if the defender's right on you."

In the first half, Loyalsock got the ball into the attacking third and had a few chances. That included Mallory Paronish getting just inside the 18 and firing a shot to the far-left post, only to see it just hit the upright, coming a few inches from being an outstanding goal five minutes into the game.

"That's a good team. They pass the ball well and they're skilled. That freshman up top (Paronish) is a whale of a player," Lovecchio said. "I was happy. I thought we really showed a lot of energy and a lot of effort the whole game, not just different parts of it. But yeah, I was happy about that."

South Williamsport held the edge in possession in the first half and went into the break with a 6-1 shots-on-goal edge. And the Mounties scored in the first half to be the first to record a goal, which turned out to be the game's lone score.

With 26:59 to play, South Williamsport's Ana Oeler got inside of the 18 and from 15 yards out, sent a great shot to the far-left post just out of the reach of talented keeper Ava Deknecht, putting South Williamsport ahead 1-0.

"I think it was huge (to score in first half). You know every game we play Loyalsock is going to be close, it's been like that forever," Lovecchio said. "I would not have thought we would have won 1-0. I would have thought there'd be a couple more goals. That's our first goal of the year and it was a nice shot. It became the game winner."

The first goal of the year for South also happened to be the first goal of the year scored against Loyalsock so far this season after they opened the year with consecutive shutout victories against Troy and Hughesville.

South ended the game with an 8-2 edge in shots, but Loyalsock still played well despite firing just one shot on goal in both halves. In the first half, Loyalsock had some chances to score.

With 15:45 to play until halftime, Paronish got the ball inside of the 18 and tried moving around defenders to get a better look at the goal. But physical play by South's back line prevented Paronish from ever getting a shot off as the ball was eventually cleared out of harm's way.

Loyalsock's Olivia Alberts also had a chance to score in the first half from down the right-side of the field outside of the 18-yard box when she tried going to the near post, only to see it sail out of bounds wide.

In the second half, however, Loyalsock wasn't able to get any chances inside of the 18. All three second-half shots by Loyalsock -- only on one frame -- came from 20 yards or further.

"I think Marc's been around the game a long time and I played for him a little bit growing up. He's a very intelligent coach. He knows how to tactically adjust his team as necessary," Ruhl said. "I think he realized we were trying to play the ball through the middle and make some quick throughballs and he adjusted. The girls that he's coaching stepped up to that. Took us a little bit of time to readjust to start playing to the outside. Once we started doing that, we had that pressure in second half. But again, we couldn't put it in the net. I think that's what changed (in second half)."

With just under 10 minutes to play, South Williamsport almost scored another goal when Loyalsock keeper Deknecht tried to go for a loose ball and got injured, falling down inside the 18, but the goal was waved off with a late whistle.

With 9:06 to play, South's Ayla Minier had a direct kick outside of the 18 that went wide to the right of the goal. Six minutes later, she had another chance inside the 18, but her shot went right to backup goalie Rayven Johnson, who played well in relief of Deknecht in the final 10 minutes of the game to keep it a 1-0 game, giving Loyalsock a chance to try to tie it up.

"I mean her (Deknecht) and Rayven, our backup, too, they both timed it well and aren't afraid to come out and challenge," Ruhl said. "We're gonna get more positive results this year. It's a very tough division for soccer and it's going to be a battle every time. We're gonna be in every battle because the girls care and they want it."

With 11:38 to play in the first half, South's Coco Kline got inside of the 18 and sent a nice shot to the left, but Deknecht stopped it to keep it a 1-0 deficit. Kline got outside of the 6-yard box with 5:20 left to play and had a good low shot, but again it was blocked.

That was the same scene with only a few seconds remaining until halftime when Kloey Persun tried firing a direct kick high from 25 yards out that Deknecht reached up and grabbed to prevent South from scoring a big momentum-shifting goal right before the break.

South Williamsport 1, Loyalsock 0

SW--Ana Oeler, 26:59.

Shots: L 2, SW 8. Corners: L 4, SW 4. Saves: L 6 (Ava Deknecht 5, Rayven Johnson 1), SW 2 (Annika Harding).

Records: Loyalsock (2-1), South Williamsport (1-1).

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