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Muncy, Montgomery girls battle to 1-1 draw

By Jon Gerardi 6 min read

MONTGOMERY -- With under five minutes to play, Montgomery's players knew that they had a chance to beat rival Muncy at home in a Mid-Penn contest on Wednesday afternoon. Rather than hang their heads in a tied game and be content with tying, the Red Raiders kept pressing and trying to get something to fall.

That included when the Red Raiders fired a shot with less than 10 seconds to play, only to see it narrowly go wide to the far-left post.

Montgomery and Muncy left in a hard-fought 1-1 draw, but the two battled until the horn went off trying to get the win over their rival.

"I love to see the fight. I feel like honestly they could have brought that last five minute energy the whole game because there were some times we weren't giving our best this game," Montgomery coach Hannah Summerson said. "A long weekend, coming off a game yesterday, you can name all the excuses but I think I'm looking for next week to have some more in sync with the girls and more rhythmic movement rather than so frantic. I feel we were frantic today, but they have done so great with connecting with each other, especially in previous games."

"We fought for 80 minutes, there's no doubt about that. We are sore, we are tired and playing six games in 10 days is tough. They gave me everything that they had left. They get a little bit of a break now and they start recovering," Muncy coach Jason Gresh said. "They fought their butts off. It's been a rough stretch through injuries and an unfortunate series of events between injuries, big schools and a grueling six games in 10 day schedule makes it difficult. But this is the end of it, now we get a little bit of a rest and hopefully can come out on the other side with a positive result."

The Red Raiders went ahead ten minutes into the game when Aleaha Grimm lined up for a corner kick and sent it perfectly into the net to put Montgomery ahead early, 1-0.

"Our girls really need that momentum. It had seemed this season to really get them going in some of these games," Summerson said. "I feel like scoring quickly really helps us get in that mindset. Today I don't know what got into them, it wasn't one of our best performances, but hopefully we can learn from that and change that next week."

Montgomery and Muncy both had chances to score in that first 40 minutes, but Montgomery held a narrow 5-3 edge in shots on goal going into halftime. Muncy fired eight total shots in the first 40 minutes, but just three were on frame.

Muncy had a chance to send in an equalizer with 25:26 to play in the first half. The Indians sent a corner kick into the 18 and after Addison Greger of Montgomery blocked a shot, it stayed in play and got to the feet of Zoe Kunkle. She tried sending in a shot close to the net, but it went just high.

Roughly 13 minutes later, Kiki Woodward got the ball into the 18 and had a great look at the net, but her shot went just high over the goal as well, preventing a game-tying goal in the first half.

"I thought we were doing a good job in the first half controlling the ball, controlling the game. A nice shot and nice corner, just slipped out of Hailey's hands a little," Gresh said. "That really was the only true scoring opportunity they had in the first half. I thought we were controlling the game, we just had to break through and keep the pressure on them. That's all I can ask out of them, especially in the state we're in right now."

In the second half, Montgomery's Addisyn Grimm took a direct kick from outside of the 18 and fired the shot high. It was a great chance, but hit off the crossbar, coming a few inches from being a great goal.

Muncy got its chance with 4:52 to play when a penalty kick was called. The Indians sent Ava Eyer to take the shot and she drilled it to the right to tie up the game, 1-1.

While Eyer scored off that PK, that was one of the few shots that either Eyer or Kiki Woodward had as Montgomery's back line did a solid job containing Muncy's two outstanding scoring threats throughout the game and not allowing either to score outside of a PK.

"We worked a lot this year on trying to have that composure in the back and not just kick it out like we have even last year we struggled with that a little bit. I feel the girls have this new almost routine in their mind of what their job is and what they're supposed to do," Summerson said. " feel they trust each other a lot more, and bringing Addi (Greger) into it and having her as an option as well makes them feel secure and confident to make those different choices rather than thinking they have to get rid of it instantly. They're really connecting with our midfield a lot better this season."

In the second half, Muncy fired seven shots on goal and got more chances to shoot. However of the ten total shots Muncy had in the second half (seven on goal), only four came from inside the 18. Montgomery keeper Greger did a solid job in goal preventing big goals as she and Muncy's Ganoe each had eight saves.

"Addi's really honestly been the rock of our team this whole season I would say. She's saved us more times than we'd like to admit," Summerson said with a laugh. "She's just relentless back there. She never takes her eyes off the ball. She gets up, gets back down in an instant. She really brings confidence and almost just no room for not silliness, but she brings a level of seriousness to the team that they need at the start of each game. Without her, this would be a totally different season. We're so thankful to have her in goal this year."

Brooke Knoebel had a great chance with 22:33 to score for Montgomery to make it a two-goal lead. Knoebel got a breakaway and had a 1-v-1 look with Ganoe, but her shot went just wide to the left on a solid opportunity.

Montgomery 1, Muncy 1

Mo--Aleaha Grimm, 30:11. Mu--Ava Eyer (penalty kick), 4:52.

Shots: Mu 10, Mo 10. Corners: Mu 5, Mo 3. Saves: Mu (Hailey Ganoe) 8, Mo 8 (Addison Greger).

Records: Muncy (1-4-1), Montgomery (3-2-1).

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