Box Score
La Plume, PA
The Cedar Crest Falcons fell to the Keystone Giants, as they continued CSAC play on the road.
The Cedar Crest Falcons were forced to step up their game as they played without Junior Captain defender Kortney Graff (Northampton, PA/Allentown Central Catholic) who was side-lined due to an injury. They proved they could handle the challenge as the defense fought hard to keep the Giants' attack out of their third, many times sticking together as a unit to deny the opposing team, goal-scoring opportunities. They held off the attack until the 24th minute, when a Giants player ran onto a ball that was played over the top which she slid by goalkeeper, Kristina Brandveen (Williamsburg,VA/Warhill High School). Soon after, the Giants found the goal again in the 27th minute with a shot that left Brandveen with no chance of saving it. The Giants scored again in the 28th minute before the half ended.
The Falcons continued to fight through the second half, with some players feeling the burn from some nagging pains, but with no one on the bench to replace them, they played commendably through to help the Falcons finish the game strong. In this half the Falcons would possess the ball more and have some very promising opportunities to score. Sophomore, Courtney Long (Coopersburg, PA/Southern Lehigh) had some good runs and shots which lifted the Falcons' enthusiasm and drive for goals. The Cedar Crest team fought extremely hard and held off the home team for a while, but the relentless attack from the Giants proved to be too much as they finished off scoring in the 85th and 86th minute to end the game at 5-0.
After the game, coach, Sarah Wolcott said " We went into this game knowing we weren't going to have any substitutes, so our approach was to play smarter, not necessarily harder, and we came out and did just that for the majority of the game. There were moments that we switched off mentally, and Keystone made us pay. I am really happy with how hard and how smart we played today. We worked for one another, and it was great to see. We were playing with a lot of injuries, and there were even moments where we played down, and it didn't phase us. I am happy with the focus and positive mentality we came out with. I'm so proud of Brittney Billmeyer (Danville, PA/Columbia County Christian), who gutted an injury from the first fifteen minutes and played strong for us until the final whistle. She wasn't playing for herself today; she was playing for the Falcons. Not to take anything away from Keystone, because they were a solid team, but if we had played them 100% healthy I think the result would have been very different."
With the loss the Falcons fall to a 3-13 overall record, and 1-8-0 in CSAC play. They will be looking for their second conference win this Saturday as they travel to play Notre Dame of Maryland University at 3pm.
