Coming off an impressive 3-1 victory over Reading on Monday, September 12, the Garden Spot boys' soccer team suffered a tough 2-0 defeat to Section Two rival Ephrata the following night. Garden Spot fell to 4-2-1 (1-1-0 league).

The Mountaineers climbed on top in the 22nd minute with Simon Yoder scoring the first of his two goals.

On the visitors' side of the pitch, goalie Josh Martin made 17 saves in the face of multiple scoring chances by Ephrata.

Martin had nine saves in the victory at Reading. Though the Spartans won 3-1, it was a comeback win.

The Red Knights stunned the Spartans two minutes into the second half.

But a calculated attack that culminated in Justin Minninger's goal in the 52nd minute evened the score. Jace Weaver recorded the first of his two assists.

Rowan Sensenig, who assisted on the Spartans' third goal, gave his team the lead two minutes later. Nate Becker capped the scoring at the 71-minute mark.

GIRLS' SOCCER

The Spartans suffered a tough loss to Ephrata in a Section Two girls' soccer match on the road. The Section Two leading Mountaineers were led by Emily Weidner's hat trick in this 4-1 victory. Weidner's two second-half goals were sandwiched around Kady Felpel's goal, which put the Spartans on the board in the 55th minute.

Kylie Weinhold made 10 saves for Garden Spot who fell to 0-6-0 on the year.

"Though we haven't won a game yet, we have been playing great soccer," Spartans head coach Kyle Smith said. "We are moving the ball around and choosing when to attack with speed.

"I'm very happy with how the team is playing and executing our game plan," continued the coach.

Another tough loss preceded this one. On Saturday, the Spartans were at Elco where another multiple goal scorer led an opponent to victory. Carsyn Boyer scored twice to pace the Raiders to a 2-1 win.

Weinhold was again steady in goal, making 10 saves.

Ashton Gonzalez scored the equalizer for Spot in the 13th minute of the match. It stayed tied 1-1 until Boyer scored the game-winner with four minutes left.

"We still have a lot of the season left and I'm confident we can make a great push forward," Smith said.

FOOTBALL

In a hard-fought overtime game, the Garden Spot football team lost a 41-35 heartbreaker to Conestoga Valley on Friday, September 9. After the Buckskins stopped Garden Spot's attempt to get into the endzone on the home team's first possession of overtime, CV tailback Nick Tran scored his third touchdown of the game to put this one in the books.

"It was a tough loss, but the boys battled back from a 28-10 halftime deficit to take the game into overtime," remarked head coach Matt Zamperini. "I'm proud of their grit."

In addition to scoring three touchdowns on the night, Tran ran for 270 yards on 24 carries, including a 60-yard dash that made it 28-10 Buckskins before the half.

Garden Spot's 10 points in the first half came on a seven-yard TD pass from Kye Harting to Trenton Hoober and on a Nick Gleason 27-yard field goal.

Gleason added a 33-yard field goal in the second half. That and rushing TD's by Harting, who scored twice in the second half, and Zac Nagle pulled the Spartans even with the Buckskins.

"The players adjusted to their responsibilities in the second half," Zamperini said. "Conestoga Valley had such a great first half offensively because we weren't getting to our spots the way we needed to."

Garden Spot (2-1) and Conestoga Valley (2-1) each compiled well over 400 yards in total offense.

Harting gamed 126 of Garden Spot's rushing yards and Blake Weaver ran for 76 yards on nine carries. Harting also completed 15 passes for 196 yards with no interceptions and the TD pass to Hoober.

Jace Conrad grabbed six passes for 125 yards. Nagle rushed 28 yards and caught three passes for 23 yards.

FIELD HOCKEY

With a blowout win over Lancaster Catholic on September 13, the Spartans improved to 3-0 in L-L League field hockey play.

Garden Spot's 23 shots on goal included two goals each by Lacey McCalicher, Kylee Barshinger and by Melanie Esh, who also recorded two assists.

Liby Kauffman dished out three assists while Lauren Horning assisted twice.

Mary Culbert and Ali Sensenig also scored for Spot. The Spartans out-shot the Crusaders 23-0.

The dominance was in the Spartans' (5-1-1) second straight match. They were coming off a 7-0 win from the previous Thursday at Northern Lebanon.

Esh had three assists to go with her two goals in this game. Emma Swatski also netted two goals and Horning added two assists.

McCalicher, Culbert and Morgan Watt were also goal scorers with Barshinger putting up one assist.

GOLF

The golfers teed off at Fox Chase on Wednesday, September 14. The Lampeter-Strasburg team, led by Ben Wilson's top score of 69, finished on top this day with 309 team points. Garden Spot finished sixth at 392.

Evan Humphreys shot an 89 for the Spartans. Newswanger shot a 98 while Julian Storms and Lila Albertson shot 102 and 103, respectively.

CROSS COUNTRY

The cross country squads raced at Solanco on Tuesday, September 13 against Section Two rivals Cocalico and Solanco. Both squads came away with a win and a loss. In the boys' race, Garden Spot topped Cocalico 23-34 but lost by a close 24-32 margin to Solanco.

Solanco's girls' team topped Spot 19-38 while the Spartans dominated Cocalico 15-50. Both the boys' and girls' teams moved their records to 1-2 on the year.

Gavin Reimers led the way with his third-place finish in 19:30. Not far behind was returning senior Alan Krock (19:43) in fourth place. Josiah Smucker's 20:01 earned him sixth while freshman Justin McFalls (21:14) finished ninth.

Julia Hoover paced the girls at 25:33 - good for sixth place overall. In seventh was Hayley Zimmerman (27:11) whereas the other Hayley, Hayley Horning that is, posted a 10th-place time of 29:42.

Kailyn Miller (12th, 32:22), Ines Tedeschi (13th, 33:17), and Mae Basehore (14th, 34:02) followed one another across the finish line.

GIRLS' VOLLEYBALL

The girls' volleyball team split its last two Section Two matches, falling at Ephrata on Thursday, September 8 then winning at home over Solanco on Tuesday. The Spartans improve to 3-2 overall.

Ephrata topped the Spartans 25-19, 25-11, 25-13.

Chloe Grady, Ashlynn Rapp, and Avery Smith each put up five kills for Spot. Kayla Kauffman led the team in assists with 13 while Valerie Martin recorded one ace and six digs.

Spot turned Solanco away 25-17, 25-17 and 25-13. Smith and Grady each poured in six kills with Kauffman's assists total reaching 19 in this match.

Ida Fisher served up six aces and registered two blocks. Valerie Martin finished with eight digs.

GIRLS' TENNIS

Garden Spot fell to 1-2 in Section Two (3-4 overall) following a 7-0 loss at home to Elizabethtown on Wednesday, September 14.

They also dropped a 7-0 result against Cocalico on Sept. 9 but earned their fourth win the day before, blanking Lebanon on the 8th.

Meridith Horst and Natallie Wirta, Maggie Martin and Leah Moua and Syanna Duval and Lauren Pavelik gave Spot a 3-0 lead after doubles. Horst, Wirta, Martin and Moua then split up and earned straight set wins in singles, completing the sweep.