Somehow the Capital District voters overlooked Atlee sophomore Ashley Riefner. When the All-District teams were announced prior to the district tournament, Riefner’s name was inexplicably placed among the members of the second team rather than the first as most people expected.

  Perhaps it was her diminutive size or quiet nature. Perhaps it was the fact that Atlee had already taken up nearly half of the first team slots. But one thing for certain, it could not have been because of the way she played the game of soccer.

  “She is a first team (member),” said Atlee head coach Bruce Lovelace. “She’s the best player on the team.”

  Lovelace had no explanation for why Riefner did not get the recognition she deserved. “I don’t vote. All I can do is promote,” he said. “Obviously I didn’t promote enough because I thought she was first team and I presented her well. I don’t know what happened.”

  Even Lee-Davis head coach Brad Davis was left scratching his head. “I feel bad for her because she’s one of the best players in the district,” he said. “It’s a shame.”

  And while the snub was perhaps grounds for a vocal outburst, Riefner merely responded in a way that would grab more attention, by scoring six goals in Atlee’s two Capital District Tournament games. Four of those goals came in the 9-2 championship win over Lee-Davis.

  “Ashley handled it the right way,” Dalton said. “She proved it on the field. The recognition is nice but what she did on the field should show everybody you better watch out for her.”

  Riefnernot only impressed by scoring but by the means in which she scored.

  Twelve minutes into the championship contest, Reifner broke open a scoreless tie by drawing Lee-Davis keeper Megan Dover from the goal. The Atlee sophomore then blistered a shot past Dover from mid center for a 1-0 lead.

  The Confederates knotted the game a 1-1 four minutes later on a penalty kick from Liz Donnini.

  But less than three minutes passed before Reifner struck again, lofting a shot from 30 yards out that dropped over Dover and into the goal for a 2-1 lead.
  Two minutes passed and it was Reifner again on the attack as Dover ran out to defend. Reifner used her chest to bump the ball past the keeper into open territory for an easy boot to the net.

  Lovelace said Reifner’s scoring did not come from Dover misplaying the ball, but rather Reifner doing what she does best; drawing the keeper out of position.

  “She’s a skilled player and she can draw things with the ball,” he said. “She’s the most dangerous player on the ball that we have. She sets things up well. She makes it look easy when it’s not.”

  Fellow sophomore, and Reifner’s good friend Sam Armentrout got into the action soon afterward. At center goal, Armentrout took a feed from Mia Warlick, caromed it off the crossbar and into the net for a 4-1 Atlee lead.

  As the Atlee offensive onslaught continued, a goal from Brooke Jerman moved the lead to 5-1 and Armentrout added two more for a 7-1 Raider lead at the break.

  Dalton noted that after their overtime upset of Hanover in the semifinals, his C-fed came into the championship unready to play. “We had to lay it all on the line Tuesday night to get to this point,” he said. “We’re not making excuses, we just came out, we played flat, we played tired; physically and mentally not ready to play.”

  Lovelace also pointed out that Lee-Davis was shorthanded due to injuries. “We just took advantage of the situations,” he said. “Lee-Davis played solid, we just got an onslaught where we were putting the ball in; finishing things.”

  Trailing one of the region’s top teams by six at the break, Dalton knew a comeback was virtually insurmountable so he set a different goal for his team in the second half.

  “At halftime we talked about we wanted to prove to everybody watching the game that we were better than she showed in the first half,” he said.

  “We just tried to make it a one half game to get ourselves mentally ready to play on Tuesday (regionals).”

  Lee-Davis did just that.

  In the 52nd minute of play, Donnini lofted a shot over Capital District Player of the Year, Atlee keeper Britt Hill, to pull the C-feds within five, 7-2.

  The Raiders answered with a goal from Kimberly Glymph but the Lee-Davis defense played strong to keep the game at a stalemate until the final minutes when Riefner sent a shot off the keeper’s hand and into the goal for the final margin.

  “We came off at halftime holding our heads down but the girls did a good job of getting it together in the second half,” Dalton said. “I don’t know if the result would have been different but the fact that we didn’t lay down and die speaks a lot about my girls and I’m proud of them for that.”

  Both teams advance to regional play on Tuesday. Lee-Davis goes into the tournament as the #7 seed playing at #2 Deep Run at 5:30 p.m.

  Atlee, the #2 seed, will host a #5 seed Mills Godwin;, a team that they beat earlier in the season, but Lovelace said the Eagles cannot be overlooked. “They just won their district tournament. They’ve been to states seven years in a row or something like that. It’s a tough draw but we figure we’re a tough draw too, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Lee-Davis…..........................1 1 — 2
Atlee ....................................7 2 — 9
L-D: Donnini 2
A: Riefner 4, Armentrout 3, Jerman, Glymph
Saves: Dover (L-D) 6; Hill (A) 4
Records: Lee-Davis 9-9; Atlee 17-1