MV hangs on for league championship

BY SHANE HENNIGAN
Times-Shamrock Writer

After a long layoff and a loss to end the regular season, Mountain View was ready to get back on the field and achieve one of its goals.

Win a league championship.

Ali Showalter and Makenna Whitaker sparked Mountain View with goals in the first half, as the Lady Eagles captured the Lackawanna League Division III championship with a 2-1 victory over Lakeland at Scranton Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

“The girls definitely deserve it,” Mountain View coach Erika Lewis said. “They worked hard all year and it just feels great. They really just stayed focused and used the loss as a good thing and motivation to get better.”

Mountain View (8-1) was playing its first game since Oct. 8, when it lost to Montrose, 1-0, which snapped a 43-game regular season unbeaten streak. But it didn’t take the Lady Eagles long to get back in the groove they had been in all season.

In the 17th minute, Showalter took a pass from Hannah Richner inside the 18-yard box, was able to create space from her defenders and got a shot off into the back of the net to give Mountain View a 1-0 lead.

“That was super big,” Showalter said. “It’s really hard to get a goal early, especially against a team like Lakeland. We’re just really glad we got that to start us off.”

Mountain View got on the board again in the 38th minute when Richner gave a pass to Whitaker, who got behind her defender, and blasted a shot from 15 yards out for a score and a two-goal lead.

“That was a good confidence-booster,” Whitaker said. “We didn’t want to keep it too close. Without that goal, we’re looking at a tie game later on. It’s just big.”

Lakeland (7-2) finally got a good opportunity and converted in the 68th minute when the ball was deflected out in front of the net to Corah Krantz, who finished the play with a score to cut the deficit to one.

It was the last real chance the Lady Chiefs would get, as Mountain View picked up its defensive intensity to hang on for the victory.

“This was a really big game,” Lewis said. “Lakeland’s a really great team to play before the (district) playoffs. This really helps us get ready for that.”

At Forest City, Mackenzie Hartman scored two goals to lead the Lady Foresters in their Division III regular season finale 2-1 win over Dunmore.

Morgan Gasper had five saves.

At Montrose, Hannah Dieck had two goals and an assist and Krysten Morgan scored twice to lead the Lady Meteors to a Division III win over Carbondale Area, 4-0.

Emma Griffiths had two assists.