After months of preparation, the State High Girls Soccer Team ran into a buzzsaw in the Carlisle Thundering Herd in its season opener. On Aug. 26, the Little Lions were held scoreless in a 7-0 rout at the North Turf.
The Little Lions suffered a blow early in the first half, losing junior outside back Leila Crandall to heat exhaustion less than five minutes into the game. Crandall went to the ground away from the play, and after walking off on her own power, was taken to the training room by the athletic training staff.
“I was facing just a little bit of heat exhaustion, but luckily thanks to our great trainer Lauren (Damiano) I was able to get cooled down,” Crandall said. “Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go back in the game tonight, but it’ll be better for the games ahead.”
Shortly after Crandall left the game, the Thundering Herd struck gold with an uncontested goal that just slipped past sophomore goalkeeper Madeline Bathgate’s hands. Carlisle wasted no time adding another goal to its tally, this time with a strike into the lower left netting.
Senior Natalie Ausherman finally put the first shot on goal for the Little Lions 23 minutes into the contest. It was easily handled by Carlisle keeper Elisabeth Bordner, but it gave the State College bench its first opportunity to make noise in an otherwise quiet game.
Ausherman’s opportunity did not spark the Little Lions into action and just two minutes later Carlisle’s Julia Ring slid a shot past Bathgate from a near-impossible angle to bring the score to 3-0.
The Herd added another goal to its tally with 5:41 to play in the half, this one a header by freshman Synclaire Ewell. All things considered, the State College back line held up exceptionally well against the physical and athletic Carlisle attack. The Little Lions trailed 4-0 at the half, and would not do themselves any favors in the second half.
Just five minutes and 26 seconds after the teams retook the field for the second half, the Herd had grown their lead to 6-0 and the ball had not touched State College’s attacking half of the field. Spirits were low on the field and in the stands as the game truly fell out of reach for the Little Lions.
Carlisle’s Allison Julias closed the scoring with a strike from the top of the 18-yard box to bring the score to 7-0 with 11:58 to play in the game. Bathgate made two challenging saves as the clock wound down, but the Little Lions could never get anything going offensively, recording zero shots on goal in the second half.
Even in a runaway loss, Head Coach Trevor Loehr was able to find positives for his team. “They didn’t give up, they kept working all the way through to the end,” Loehr said. “I think there were also some opportunities and some players that we haven’t seen before got some time today which is always a good thing to give some experience to some of the folks who haven’t been in there in the past.”
Loehr leads an extremely young team into the Mid-Penn Commonwealth, one of the toughest leagues in the state. “We’ve got a young squad, so the more opportunities that we have to look at some things and work on some things, the better we’ll be long run,” Loehr said. “We play in a tough league and this is the first time a lot of them have seen that, so moving forward I think we’ll just get stronger.”
The Little Lions are back in action on Sept. 4 when they take on Central Dauphin at the North Turf.
