A week after wrapping up the regular season, the harrier teams were back in action, competing in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Championships at Ephrata Middle School.
Tuesday afternoon, Anthony Solis clocked the fourth fastest sophomore time, stopping the clock at 17:28.4, finished in 17th place overall, and punched his ticket to the District Three Championships, Saturday, October 31.
"Anthony's finish was an improvement over last year's 22nd place finish," said head coach Kyle Nardella.
Avery Jacobsen, a junior, made his way around the course in 18:16.3, placing 38th in a field of 156 runners. Freshman Wyatt Tomison (52nd, 18:37.6), sophomore James Hartigan (82nd, 19:35.6) and Joey Hartigan (112th, 20:28.8) rounded out Solanco's top five. Seniors Mason Sinclair (127th, 21:12) and Sean Keller (142nd, 22:14) also competed. The Mules finished in 11th place out of 23 teams.
"Last year we were 17th," Nardella stated. "Our goal was to be in the top half, and we did that. We beat all the teams we beat during the regular season. We had a goal of beating Warwick as they beat us by one point during the regular season. Unfortunately, they placed one spot in front of us.
"The team seemed pretty pleased with the season overall, but are not satisfied, which is good," he added. "They are already talking about what they can do to prepare for next season."
Due to covid restrictions, the girls raced Wednesday afternoon. This young squad came away in 11th place out of 17 teams. Lilly Soulliard was Solanco's top runner, clocking a 21:17.4 and placing 23rd overall. She was the 10th fastest freshman in the field.
"Lilly finished high enough to earn a medal," noted Nardella. "And she missed qualifying for districts by five places."
Emma Baxter moved from 53rd place as a freshman to 45th this year with a 22:25 while freshmen Christine Wagner (75th, 23:48) and Olivia Singleton (118th, 26:50), along with sophomore Stella Woy (124th, 28:06) rounded out the counters.
"At the start of the season we had hopes to be above 500," Nardella stated. "Some injuries set us back, and made that goal more difficult to reach. With the entire team returning next year, and two members coming back from injury, we should have a solid team the next few years."
FIELD HOCKEY
In non-section action last Tuesday, October 20, Solanco found itself in a high scoring matchup against Ephrata, the second place team out of Section Two. The Mounts (9-2 overall) have scored 33 goals this season but struggled on Solanco's grass field.
"This was an awesome game," lauded head coach Whitney Hawkins. "It was probably the best game we've had since our first game of the season against Garden Spot."
The hosts struck first. With 9:06 left in the first quarter, Maggie Hirst made good on Solanco's first corner, poking in a loose ball in front of the goal.
The visitors knotted the score with 1:58 left in the half. Unfazed, Solanco, scoring two goals for just the second time this year, countered. Less than a minute later, Haylee Byers put the Mares back in front with a one-on-one breakaway against Ephrata's goalie.
"The girls were pretty pumped after our first goal but then to come back and score 20 seconds after Ephrata tied the game...they were super pumped," said Hawkins.
The Mounts knotted the score again, in the 13th minute of the third quarter and then notched the game-winner with 3:32 left in the game.
"Every player on the field put in a great effort," Hawkins added. "Despite not going into overtime, or winning, everyone felt great knowing they had a good game and played hard."
GIRLS' SOCCER
The girls' soccer team suffered identical 2-0 losses last week against Cocalico and Elco and saw their Section Three record fall to 4-5. In both games the girls gave up one goal in each half.
The Raiders, who nipped Solanco 1-0 October 8, remained perfect on the season with their shutout win. They put together an 11 corner, seven shot offense to push their overall record to 13-0.
"They were the better team on their senior night under the lights," said head coach Ken Yoder. "We look forward to hosting Donegal for our senior night this Wednesday."
BOYS' SOCCER
For the third time this season the boys' soccer team put together a two goal game. But it wasn't enough. After settling for a 2-2 tie against Elco on October 8, the hosting Mules were focused on putting together a winning effort. They almost pulled it off. Down 3-1 in the first half, Solanco tightened up on the defensive end and cut the lead to 3-2 with Brady Robillard's goal in the 77th minute. Unfortunately the Raiders, with a 10-4 advantage in shots on goal, packed the defensive end and denied the hosts. Solanco's Noah Baber knotted the score at 1-1 with a goal in the fourth minute of the game.
VOLLEYBALL
After dropping the first set 25-20 against Manheim Wednesday night, October 21, Solanco rallied for a 25-21 win to tie things up. The hosts, however, turned the tables and took the next two sets 25-13, 25-18 and dropped Solanco to 2-9 overall.
"We capitalized on their errors in those first two sets," said head coach Dillon Costrello. "But in the last two sets we had too many errors on our side. We kind of defeated ourselves."
Jaidee Beam and Jada Dow, with five kills each, were the beneficiaries of a nine assist night by Madi Davis, who also tied Maggie Perry with three aces each. Emma Canale put up nine blocks and Perry scrambled for 16 digs.
FOOTBALL
In a battle to stay on top of the Section Two standings, Warwick's Colton Miller put a damper on Solanco's senior night, Friday, Oct. 16. The running back collected five touchdowns, rushed for 225 yards and sparked the visiting Warriors to a 48-14 L-L League win.
Warwick, ranked 13th in the state, scored on each of its first four possessions and led 28-7 at the break. Solanco, down 14-0 in the second period, chewed up the clock and got on board with a one-yard keeper by Mason St. Clair with 5:56 left in the half. Warwick quickly responded as Miller collected his third straight TD with an 11-yard run and, less than a minute later they strike again with a 52-yard pass from Joey McCracken to Caleb Schmitz, pushing the lead to 28-7 with 2:26 remaining.
The visitors scored three straight touchdowns in the second half to pull away. Robert Castagna's one yard TD run with 2:41 left in the game capped the scoring. Trent McDowell followed with his second successful PAT of the night.
St. Clair led the way with 100 rushing yards on 21 carries. Castagna added 69 and Zach Turpen followed with 65. John Sankus, Seth Harnish and Justin Dagen anchored the defense with six total tackles while Josiah Forren added four solos.
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