LEHMAN TWP. — Every opponent’s opportunity can be scary when protecting a one-goal lead with the continuation of the season on the line.
Fortunately for Wyoming Area, the Lady Warriors have a formula for avoiding scares.
Wyoming Area held Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt without a shot for the final 37½ minutes and without a penalty corner for the last 19 minutes Tuesday night to finish off a 1-0 victory in a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A field hockey first-round state game at Lake-Lehman’s Eddie Edwards Stadium.
The Lady Warriors gave up just three penalty corners and a single shot, which was wide of the goal, during the state opener. That allowed an Alexys Moore goal, off a Nina Angeli assist on a penalty corner play early in the second quarter, to hold up as the game-winner.
Wyoming Area used the win to advance into a Saturday quarterfinal against West Perry in a game that was not completed by deadline for this edition.
“You never know with a 1-0 game,” Wyoming Area coach Bree Bednarski said. “Anything can happen. Anybody can beat anybody; especially at this time of the year.
“They are stressful games, but we trust our girls.”
In turn, Bishop McDevitt also limited the chances by Wyoming Area, which did not take a shot until the final 10 seconds of the first quarter. The Lady Warriors finished with nine penalty corners and just seven shots.
“We’ve been preaching to the girls: No matter how far we go, every team is going to be good now, so every game has to be played like it’s the finals,” Bednarski said.
Wyoming Area made the most of its first chance of the second quarter and the second of its penalty corners in the game.
Lyla Rehill and Angeli moved the ball from left to right through the circle to Alexys Moore, who scored with 12:26 left in the half.
“As soon as Nina got the ball, it was a wide-open shot for my angle,” Moore said.
The defense of Alyvia Yatsko, Addy Dragwa and Krea Bonita and defensive midfielder Samara Campenni took it from there with help from the forwards and midfielders controlling possession.
Wyoming Area had zero state tournament experience through 2017. Now, the Lady Warriors Warriors are 6-3 in state games since 2018 and looking to reach their third semifinal in four years.
The Lady Warriors have won their first-round game in each appearance. The only time they did not make the playoff since 2017 was when COVD adjustments downsized the bracket in 2020 and took away a spot the team would have earned with a second-place finish in District 2 that year.
The first-round win made Wyoming Area 20-2 overall with 16 shutouts. The last four wins — and last three games — have been 1-0.
