JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
Mennonite 3, Fleetwood 2 in PIAA Double-A girls’ spring soccer championship game
HERSHEY – Talk about getting the storybook ending.
The last shot Kelsey Gorman attempted as a member of Lancaster Mennonite’s girls’ soccer team ended up in the back of the net.
But it wasn’t just any other goal.
It was the game-winning goal off a direct kick with 3:38 to play in Mennonite’s 3-2 win over Fleetwood in the PIAA Double-A spring soccer championship Friday afternoon in Hersheypark Stadium.
Gorman has already had a standout career for the Blazers – so to score the winning goal in the state championship game in her final appearance in a Mennonite uniform capped it all off in style.
If you missed my live blog from the game, you can read all the juicy details here.
I scoured the field for interviews after the game, and I compiled this list of some of my favorite quotes from the day …
And congrats again to Mennonite for winning the first team state championship in school history.
Mennonite senior midfielder KELSEY GORMAN on her game-winning direct kick with 3:38 to play: “I just tried to relax and think about where I wanted to place it. And when I looked up, the right side was open. I ended up hitting it right to where I wanted to hit it, so that was really nice to see. … Did that really just happen? I’m still surprised that I put it exactly where I wanted to. To do that, in a situation like this, is kind of shocking.”
Mennonite coach DALE STOLTZFUS on Gorman’s game-winner: “It certainly was a great opportunity for us, and I thought they (officials) made the right call. We work on re-starts in practice all the time, and we wanted Kori Wenger and Kelsey Gorman over the ball. To be honest, I’m not sure who they chose to take the shot, but Kelsey hit a perfect shot up and over the wall … a perfect line drive, and it went in. It was awesome.”
Mennonite junior forward ALLY BROWN on Gorman’s winning shot: “We practice the direct and indirect kicks a lot, and it usually goes pretty well in practice, so we were all pretty confident … especially with Kelsey taking the shot.”
STOLTZFUS on the revenge factor, after Fleetwood beat Mennonite in the district semifinals: “Sometimes when you play for revenge, you forget about playing the game. So we made sure to talk to our girls about revenge, and told them not to worry about all that stuff and to just go out and play the game. I thought they stayed focused on that.”
STOLTZFUS on Gorman: “What a great athlete she is. She’s a tremendous player and a tremendous competitor, and she was our leading scorer this season from her midfield position. That says a lot about how good she is and how hard she works. I’m so happy for Kelsey. She showed everyone what kind of an athlete she is.”
GORMAN waxing poetic about winning it all: “Feels amazing. I’m not sure it’s quite hit me yet. But I gotta tell you – this feels really, really good.”
STOLTZFUS, on winning the 2005 boys’ state title while coaching Warwick, and now winning a state title on the girls’ side: “I’m so proud of the team I coached at Warwick in 2005. But this team, as the season has gone on, developed a never-say-die attitude, and we have a bunch of great competitors.”
BROWN on winning state gold: “It’s just really, really exciting. We all got really determined and we were all focused. … It’s been incredible – we’ve done so much together as a team and that has helped us out so much. We all get along and we never get upset with each other. When you work as a team, you play better.”
Like Friday, when Mennonite won it all.
