PLAINS TWP. – The position of goaltender on the Wyoming Area field hockey team can often seem like a spare part.
There have been multiple occasions in the past two seasons when the Lady Warriors scored more goals than they allowed shots on goal by their opponent. In other words, they could have won several games without even having a goalie in place to stop shots.
When her team needed her most, however, Riley Muniz delivered.
Muniz extended the Wyoming Area season and District 2 Class A title defense through the fourth quarter and untimed penalty corners at the end of regulation before Lackawanna Trail’s Lena Ryon finally broke through with the game-winner early in overtime of a 3-2 victory Wednesday night at Wilkes-Barre Area High School.
“Riley had a very, very good game, especially in the fourth quarter when they got a lot of corners,” Wyoming Area coach Bree Bednarski said. “That was maybe the best game I’ve ever seen her play.”
Muniz made 10 of her 13 saves in the fourth quarter, including one with five seconds left and one more on each of the two penalty corners that the Lady Lions lined up for with no time on the clock. Under field hockey rules, teams get to complete penalty corner opportunities even if no time remains on the clock, but Muniz kept Lackawanna Trail from winning the game with those extra chances.
“I think it says a lot that when she was needed, she really stepped up to the plate,” Bednarski said. “She just saved so many shots and rebounds.”
The effort was noticed on both sides.
“She’s an unsung hero,” Lackawanna Trail coach Laura Evans said. “She is a legitimate goalie. She served her team well tonight and made us work extra hard.”
Muniz got help from her defense battling on rebounds in the fourth quarter, almost all of which was spent with Wyoming Area pinned inside its defensive circle. Those crowds helped stop Lackawanna Trail, but also led to more infractions and penalty corners for additional set plays to try to break the 2-2 tie.
Overtime, and the open spaces created by 7v7 play instead of 11 on a team, took on a different look.
Ryon completed her two-goal, one-assist game after Greta Krimmel popped the ball free near the top of the circle, giving her room to wind up on a shot that the Central Michigan commit ripped just inside the far post from about 13 yards out.
“When the numbers are down like a 7v7, it kind of takes away that defense from you and leaves an opportunity to score,” Evans said.
Ryon made sure they did, breaking a 16-game Wyoming Area winning streak in the process.
“Sometimes pressure is a privilege and being put in that position just forces you to finish like that,” Ryon said.
Wyoming Area had a slight statistical advantage in the district final through three quarters and had come from behind twice to tie the game.
The WVC Division 1 champion Warriors had not allowed more than one goal in any of their previous 10 games.
Ryon picked off a pass from about 30 yards out and did the rest herself, dribbling to score on the move with another hard shot from the right side.
Julianna Gonzales tied the game on a rebound, then Lackawanna Trail’s Emma Thomas scored on a rebound of a Ryon shot.
The Warriors tied the game again in the first minute of the second half.
Lyla Rehill received a penalty corner insert and slipped a pass to Ainsley Flynn as they overlapped, moving in opposite directions. Flynn took the shot and scored.
Then each team had just one scoring chance in the next 17 minutes before Lackawanna Trail began its late dominance when Ryon stole the ball, dribbled 20 yards into the circle and drew a penalty corner try for her time.
Lackawanna Trail had the game’s last 12 shots for a 17-8 advantage in that category and the last nine penalty corners for an 11-5 lead.
