EL produces upset, MV edges BR in thriller

The agony and the ecstasy were the themes as the District II soccer playoff got underway Friday and Saturday.

Elk Lake, the number seven seed, put on Cinderella’s slipper when the Warriors scored a major upset with a 1-0 win over second-seeded Holy Cross.

Alex Bradish scored the game’s only goal 30 minutes into the game and Goalkeeper Caden Ramey recorded saves on 13 of the 14 Holy Cross shots.

The upset avenged the Warriors’ 3-0 loss to Holy Cross in the regular season.

In the most thrilling game of the opening round Mountain View advanced past Blue Ridge after outscoring the Raiders 4-3 on penalty kicks after 110 minutes of play could not determine a winner.

Garrett Conklin put Blue Ridge on top with a goal 30 minutes into the game.

But Mountain View knotted the game with two minutes to go in the half when Mike DeWolfe fed Riley Weida for score.

Both teams failed to score in the second half and in either of the overtime periods.

After Ben DeMark put the Eagles ahead 4-3 in the shoot out Mountain View Goalkeeper Connor Richmond made a diving save to thwart the Raiders’ last chance.

Richmond had eight saves as Blue Ridge outshot Mountain View 20-17. Blue Ridge Goalkeeper Jacob Morris had seven saves. Mountain View advanced to face top-seeded Gregory the Great in Monday’s semifinal.

At Forest City the third seeded Foresters used goals from Jay Lipko and Cade Hartman in the first half to claim a 2-0 win over MMI Prep.

Lipko took a pass from Gabe Zukowski at the 16-minute mark to put Forest City on the board. With one-minute remaining before intermission Hartman scored his first career goal off an assist from Dakota Foster.

Goalkeeper Carm Gigliotti had two saves to gain the shutout. Forest City hosted Elk Lake in Monday’s semifinal.

On the girls’ side Bella Pleska scored twice for Forest City and the three-seeded Lady Foresters got out quickly in their 5-1 defeat of sixth-seeded Carbondale.

Jessica Curley got Forest City on the board first with a score off an Isabella Richner pass just under the ten-minute mark.

Nearly ten minutes later Vanessa Hodges scored from an assist from Lizzy Bartholomay, and Gabby Pleska scored unassisted at the 27-minute mark.

After Carbondale cut the lead with a goal seven minutes into the second half, Bella Pleska put the game out of reach with her two unassisted goals.

Maddie Bailer had 10 saves for Forest City who advanced to play Mountain View in last night’s semifinal.

Elk Lake saw their season to come to a close with a 5-0 loss to Holy Cross.

Holy Cross outshot Elk Lake 20-3 as Elk Lake Goalkeeper Tamara Voda garnered 10 saves. Montrose hosted Holy Cross in last night’s semifinal.