WHITEHALL — Wyoming Area matched its second-highest scoring output of the season in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state field hockey quarterfinals.
Once in the semifinals, however, the Lady Warriors were shut out for just the second time all season to have their season come to an end one step short of the state finals for the second time in three years.
“We made adjustments more this season than we ever have in our staff’s career here,” Wyoming Area coach Erin McGinley said.
The Lady Warriors (19-3) lost two-time, first-team, all-state defensive midfielder and Lafayette College commit Makenzie Switzer to a knee injury before the first game and went through some major offensive adjustments as the state playoffs began.
“They executed well, changing things pretty rapidly, says a lot with how well we were able to turn things on and be successful,” McGinley said. “I look at it and say ‘I can’t be anything but proud’.”
The Lady Warriors matched the deepest playoff run in program history with their 5-0 romp over Christopher Dock Mennonite Nov. 13, but were stopped in the semifinals by the same team as last time, falling 2-0 to Oley Valley.
Villanova commit Toni Menichello, who was prominent in all five state wins in school history during her career, said there is more success ahead at Wyoming Area.
“I’m really confident that they’ll go pretty far next season,” she said.
Wyoming Area 5, Dock Mennonite 0
Bianca Pizano and Nina Angeli scored two goals each and Wyoming Area’s defense held Dock Mennonite without a shot or penalty corner during the quarterfinal victory.
The first two goals were scored by Pizano on penalty corners, one of the areas Wyoming Area showed improvement on while the defense was posting its 14th shutout.
Wyoming Area converted on its third penalty corner chance, scoring 3:39 into the game.
The Warriors worked the ball all the way around the circle with Toni Minichello feeding it from the top to Pizano on the left wing. Pizano’s hard shot got past the goalie and bounced off a defender’s stick and in.
“That’s a corner that we had never tried before,” Pizano said
Wyoming Area repeated the same play and nearly connected again.
Then, Pizano shot from high in the right circle, sooner after the insert on another corner, making it 2-0 with 4:50 left in the half.
Angeli pulled the ball out of a scramble in front with 8:33 left in the third quarter, went to her reverse side and flicked a shot past the diving goalie.
Minichello, who also scored, and Alexys Moore had two assists each.
Moore, who assisted Pizano’s second goal, took the ball all the way to the end line on the left side and sent it in front to Minichello, who one-timed it for a second goal in a span of 1:26.
Wyoming Area beat the third-quarter horn to score when Minichello took a lead pass from Lyla Rehill and sent it ahead again to Angeli, who scored to make it 5-0.
Oley Valley 2, Wyoming Area 0
Wyoming Area controlled the possession and applied the pressure it needed to reverse a two-goal halftime deficit Tuesday night against Oley Valley.
What the Lady Warriors could not do was complete the equation by putting the ball in the cage.
Wyoming Area led Oley Valley in shots, 10-2, and penalty corners, 7-1, during the second half to finish with the game lead in both categories.
“We couldn’t find the back of the cage, but those things happen,” coach Erin McGinley said.
“They executed on two of their corners,” McGinley said. “That’s how they beat us.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capitalize on our corner opportunities today.”
The coach came away pleased with the effort.
“We played a good game and we fought hard,” McGinley said. “They left everything on the field and for that, our coaching staff will be forever proud of them.”
Oley Valley’s Cassidy Drobek made nine saves for the shutout.
Alexandra Lopez scored the first goal and assisted the second.
When Oley Valley got its first penalty corner in the waning seconds of the first quarter, the Lynx turned it into their first three shots, the first by Lopez, then two rebounds. Lopez scored on the second of those rebounds.
Lopez was farther from the goal on the second score in the second quarter. She fired a hard drive from high in the circle on the left side and Mia Woodard was at the back post to deflect it in.
