Inferno Is Heating Up
Article by Mikayla Mustard
Despite the losses from the U20 and U23 teams, the Lancaster Inferno first team finished Father’s Day strong
First Team Recap
This past Father’s Day Sunday, the Lancaster Inferno hosted a triple header at Millersville University’s Pucillo Field.
The first team was the only home team that came out with a win as they finished off the day with an impressive 2-0 win against the New Jersey Copa FC. With both goals being put away in the second half of play, after a slow start Inferno was able to find a rhythm and put the game away.
The first goal of the match came in the 57th minute of play from a through ball from midfielder Maddie Mohr to put forward Rachel Eberly in to finish a composed goal.
It wasn’t long until the team secured the day when Inferno game changers came in, bringing new energy to the match. Forwards Kay Liebl and Kayla Mesaros combined for the second goal of the match in the 88th minute.
Liebl was able to find Mesaros who fired a shot past the Copa goalkeeper in the upper panel of the net. Soon after this goal, Inferno would lock down the rest of the match to come out victorious.
Not only are they connecting in the attack third well, the Inferno defense came out with their first shutout of the season.
Head coach, Stephanie Cleaves highlighted this accomplishment and spoke on the back line
following the match.
“Our defense is starting to play much better together which is evident by earning our first clean sheet. I’m proud of the tenacity and composure each defender displays and goalkeeper Ellie Breech even had a couple of exceptional saves to top it off,” Cleaves said.
The first team looks to continue their success this week with two more games against Keystone F.C. and another matchup with New Jersey COPA F.C.
U23 Team and U20 Team Recaps
Prior to the first team kickoff, the day started out with the U20 and U23 teams playing in two
tough battles.
Lancaster Inferno U20
First off in the day the U20 team kicked off at 1 p.m. against Steel United PA.
This is the inaugural season for Inferno with a U20 team and they primarily consist of graduating seniors from the U18 and U19 teams. The team competes in the newly launched U20 division within the United Women’s Soccer League Two (UWS2) that features West-Mont United Shamrock and Steel United PA U20.
The team’s head coach is Kyle Diem and on his staff are assistant coaches Casey Shillabeer and Adam Johnny Morris.
In their game they came up short as they lost 3-1.
They found the back of the net first as midfielder Maya Trowbridge scored in the 6th minute. It wasn’t long until Steel United netted a goal in the 22nd minute as Rylee Gust scored the equalizer. Steel United finished the first half with a late goal in stoppage time at the end of the 45 minutes from Rylee Gust as she found her second of the game.
Inferno fought back a tough second half but did not find a way to tie it up. They ended the game two goals short.
They are looking to go to Steel United this Sunday for a rematch.
Lancaster Inferno U23
Lancaster Inferno’s U23 team, competing in the UWS League 2, fell short Sunday at 3 p.m. as they hosted West-Mont United.
They lost 5-2 but fought until the end.
They went down 4-0 as WestMont United went into the halftime with a 2-0 lead and then came back out with a strong start to put 2 more away before Inferno could even net one.
It wasn’t until the 59th minute when midfielder Maddie Root put the first one away for Inferno on the day. West Mont answered quickly to put their last goal of the game to make it 5-1 in the 61st minute.
The final goal of the match came from a penalty kick for Inferno by forward Kayla Keefer in the 69th minute of play. They fought until the very end of the match but came up short.
They look to bounce back this Friday as they travel to play Coppermine.
