Lancaster Inferno Too Hot to Handle at NOVA FC

A mid-week match in the late afternoon on a hot summer day after a 3-4 hour road trip offers it’s own challenges. Add in facing an formidable team like Northern Virginia FC, and you can understand how Lancaster Inferno found itself in a tough situation on Wednesday, June 19th.

At the 5:00PM kickoff, the Inferno players were ready to jump in and play but ended up needing most of the first half to find their legs. But once they found them, they were unstoppable.

At 42′, center-mid #25 Teresa Rook (JMU) passed the ball long to #2 Olivia Shertzer (West Virginia), who quickly crossed it over to #12 Taylor Mentzer (University of NC), who tapped it in the net. At halftime, Inferno was leading 1-0.

At the start of the second half, Inferno seemed to come out determined to score. They quickly got the ball down to the NOVA side and Shertzer intercepted a NOVA and scored the second Inferno goal at 46′.

The rest of the match saw fairly equal action with a few shots on goal. At the 81st minute, a foul was called against Inferno defense, leading to a free kick, which NOVA took advantage of and scored their first goal.

The match ended with an Inferno victory with a final score of 2-1, for Lancaster Inferno’s 7th straight win of the 2024 season.

Olivia Shertzer was named Lusk & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty Player of the Match.

Lancaster Inferno has another double-header scheduled for Saturday, June 22nd where the U23 team will play against MSI and the First Team faces Charlottesville Blues FC.