MILTON — Bree Bednarski went through many emotions in the waning moments and the immediate aftermath of the final game of a special season.
Pride, sadness and anger were all part of equation as Wyoming Area, the state’s last unbeaten field hockey team, was eliminated from the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament one step short of making its second championship game appearance in Bednarski’s three years as head coach.
“I was very proud of this team,” Bednarski said after the Lady Warriors fell to Boiling Springs 1-0 in Tuesday’s semifinal. “They had a very good season this year. They deserve to be in the finals on Saturday.”
Instead of Wyoming Area, Boiling Springs (20-5) advanced to play West Perry (21-1) in a District 3 championship game rematch, which was being played for the state title Saturday morning at Cumberland Valley.
“I’m really proud of the girls,” Bednarski said, “but I’m mostly really sad for them because they worked really hard to get here and I can’t ask for any more for them.”
Wyoming Area held Boiling Springs without a shot or a penalty corner in the second half, but at the same time, the Boilers were effectively protecting the 1-0 lead they took late in the second quarter.
The Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 and District 2 Class A champion Lady Warriors had put the ball in the cage earlier in the quarter, but officials ruled the initial shot on the play was dangerous. When the Lady Warriors could not break through in the second half, their season ended after a 20-0 start.
“It’s kind of unfortunate that on our corner shot, they took back our goal,” Bednarski said. “It could have been even.”
Bednarski voiced her displeasure late in the game, which was stopped briefly with 1:22 remaining for an official to issue her a green card, which amounts to a sideline warning.
“Ultimately, I think we did well,” Bednarski said. “There were just a lot of missed calls on the field that didn’t go our way.”
Boiling Springs barely threatened throughout the game, but it did an outstanding job of smothering what appeared like promising surges up the field by Wyoming Area.
“They triple-teamed a lot,” Bednarski said. “Whenever we got the ball, it seemed like there were three girls on top of us, which made it harder for our girls to get distributing.”
That approach protected a 1-0 lead throughout the second half.
Boiling Springs scored with 1:41 left in the second quarter when Anna Lucido received Kate Yenser’s penalty corner insert at the top of the circle and fired a quick, low shot into the cage for the only score of the night.
Wyoming Area finished with 6-2 advantages in both shots and penalty corners.
Ellie Shoemaker made three saves for the shutout.
