EJ girls pull out thrilling OT win over rival Juniata

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: October 5, 2025

Photos by Bob Hockenbrock
By Kenny Varner

COCOLAMUS – Another chapter was written in the long distinguished rivalry between the East Juniata and Juniata girls soccer teams.

The two found themselves embattled in a 2-2 tie going into overtime.

This night, the contest belonged the the feisty East Juniata team, winning 3-2 on an overtime goal by Makaylyn Peter’s at 5:35 left in the extra period.

“We just played with intensity. That’s what we’ve been lacking all season. We knew we were better than our record indicated,” said East Juniata coach Brian Robinson. “But we played with intensity up until that point and the scoreboard showed it.”

The game was highlighted by spirited stops by East Juniata goalie Landyn Cramer. Cramer finished with five tough saves on the evening.

“She (Cramer) played a great game tonight. There were a couple times there I thought it was going to be tied there or they were scoring,” added Robinson. Especially the one when Mylee Landis with 20 minutes to go came down the left side and she made a great save on it. She played the line perfectly, judged it and dove for it, moving at the right time. It was a great, great save.”

In the first half, the Tigers and Indians battled back and forth with East Juniata pushing the ball down in the Juniata end on numerous occasions. It was a back-and-forth battle of possessions as the clock wound down to under the 20-minute mark. At 18:20, Cali Wagner took a lofting pass from a teammate and was able to run under it and get the possession. With the possession she sent it home past the Juniata goalie, making it a 1-0 advantage.

East Juniata took the lead into the intermission.

Early on in the second half, the Lady Tigers were at it again when Wagner picked up a rebound from her previous shot that hit the post and then sent it back through the net, upping the East Juniata lead to 2-0 at the 37:14 mark.

But the Indians would not go quietly into the night, as they marched back into the contest with a hard fought goal by Landis which saw her blaze through defenders on her way to her first goal, cutting it to a 2-1 contest.

Then the excitement grew with each passing minute as the two defenses played tight, keeping the other out of the goal.

It was nail biting time for the Indians as the time started to dwindle under six minutes left in the game.

Juniata would tie the contest on a blast by Sara Montoya with only 5:23 left in regulation.

“Throughout the year we’ve struggled going down. We just get in our heads sometimes stop playing our game. So we came out slow and found ourselves in a hole,” said Juniata coach Garrick Paden. “The thing I told the girls after the game. The negative we came out slow and got down by two. But the positive it’s that we fought back. We fought ourselves back in the game.”

Despite some close calls on both ends of the field, neither team would find away to pull out the win in regulation.

In overtime, Peters was able to sneak on past the Indians to give the home squad the victory.