Achieving a three-peat, Donegal girls cross country captured the L-L Section Two Title last Tuesday for the third consecutive year.
The title came down to their final regular season meet on October 13, in which the Indians topped both the section runner up, Lampeter-Strasburg, and host ELCO.
Both the Pioneers and Donegal entered the meet undefeated thus far in the 2020 season, but only Donegal maintained that status finishing the regular season 11-0.
In a fitting outcome, Donegal swept the top three place finishes led by meet winner Myra Naqvi.
Naqvi crossed the line in 20:47, her fourth meet win of the season, and was swiftly joined at the finish by fellow Indian harriers Hadley Shoaf (21:16) and Amanda Fry (21:23).
"Myra, Hadley, and Amanda all ran well again," Koser praised. "Rachel Fernald had a great race even though she is bothered by injury, and it was exciting to have Emma Myers back after missing the last three meets."
Fernald crossed in sixth with a time of 22:12, and Myers' time of 22:48 claimed ninth place.
"The girls were glad that they have had great success this year and over the last three years," head coach Philip Koser affirmed.
For the athletes that have been on the team for each of those three seasons, that success includes carrying a career record of 42-1, not having lost a meet since September 2017, Koser pointed out.
In the boys' race, the Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers edged ahead to claim the meet and title, but the Donegal boys had plenty to celebrate as well, concluding their regular season 10-1.
Donegal's pacesetter, Brock Overlander, cruised across the line in 16:55 to claim second place, Hunter Gehman (17:37) took sixth, and Sam Rothstein (18:01) claimed tenth.
"Brock ran extremely well and ran under 17 minutes for the first time this year," celebrated Koser.
Overlander's time was also a Donegal record on the ELCO course, three seconds faster than the previous best time for the course.
BOYS' SOCCER
Making the most of their one opportunity on the field last week, the boys' soccer team blanked Solanco, 6-0, at home on Tuesday.
Indians center back, Silas Mumper, scored the first goal after a mere two minutes of play, but then the game continued with no further change to the scoreboard before the halftime break.
"We scored two minutes into the game and this was good to see. However, we were not very effective after that in the first half," pointed out head coach Andy Wagner.
It was in the second half that the Indians surged ahead led by two goals and two assists from Joseph Turbedsky.
"We did the same thing starting the second half, we scored within the first two minutes and continued to press after that-this was the difference from the first half to the second," Wagner pointed out crediting his bench players with the boost of energy the team needed to produce such an altered latter half.
Levi Sites, Andrew Myers, and Tye White each notched a goal of their own, and Sean Haines, Jackson Sturges, and Brody Bonham each supplied an assist.
The opposite end of the field was quieter, but when needed, Indians keeper Keaghan Cote was ready and snatched up two saves.
FIELD HOCKEY
Donegal's leading scorer, Emma Miller, continues to deliver in the clutch, most recently providing an overtime goal to clinch a 3-2 victory at Manheim Central on October 13.
Miller's golden goal came during seven-vs-seven, sudden-victory overtime just seconds after the Barons had their own chance to clinch the game on a breakaway. The Barons opportunity was thwarted by the defensive play of Victoria Burton and Donegal keeper CC Emswiler, who ended the night with five saves.
"CC Emswiler made a dive to send their shooter wide and then, when she was able to shoot, Victoria Burton dove in to make a tackle and stop the near goal," said head coach Amanda Misselhorn of the pivotal moment.
Transitioning back to offense, the following play was set into motion by a crucial run in which Reagan Clark created the space Miller needed to split the defense and send home the game winner.
Miller's goal in the extended minutes was one of her two tallies on the scoreboard that evening. Her other successful shot settled into the net during the fourth period, assisted by Grace Dickinson.
"Grace was a big spark off the bench for us," noted Misselhorn. "She made a great pass to set up the goal."
Early in the contest, sophomore Makayla Ober rerouted a hit from Maddy Leety, resulting in a first period goal and the initial lead, before the Barons managed to tuck in their two second half goals forcing the extension.
"We had been practicing our attacking penalty corner plays all week and it was great to see Makayla score on a one-touch deflection from Maddy Leety's drive hit," explained Misselhorn. "Our team played strong all game and it was a huge win for us," she concluded.
The hard-fought Donegal win improves their record to 5-4 and ranks them third in the L-L Section Two, eager to finish the regular season strong in hopes of post-season prospects.
Weather and schedule changes left football and girls' soccer with a longer-than-expected pause from competition last week, but all teams anticipate being back in action this week.
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