Wyoming Area’s (from left) Nina Angeli, Alexys Moore and Lyla Rehill celebrate after the Warriors edged Oley Valley to reach Saturday’s state championship game.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Alexys Moore, left, and Alyvia Yatsko hug after Wyoming Area field hockey won on Wednesday to reach the state finals for the first time in program history.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
The Wyoming Area field hockey team celebrates after ending Wednesday’s PIAA Class A semifinal game against Oley Valley on a penalty stroke goal by Bianca Pizano in Whitehall.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area’s Alexys Moore (11) is congratulated for scoring the second Warriors goal by Lyla Rehill (7), Alyvia Yatsko (19) and Ainsley Flynn, right, during the first quarter on Wednesday.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area’s Bianca Pizano, second from right, gets a hug from Krea Bonita after opening the scoring on a penalty stroke against Oley Valley in Wednesday’s state semifinals.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
WHITEHALL — Ignore the goalie. She doesn’t matter.
As Bianco Pizano sees it, when she steps to the line to take a penalty stroke, there is no guessing game being played. There is no deception needed.
There is nothing to read.
Execution is the key.
The shooter taking the stroke has a proven statistical advantage, so as Pizano sees it, the attempt becomes about taking her taking her best shot. Place it where it belongs with the right velocity and the result will take care of itself.
“I kind of do the same thing every time,” Pizano said after scoring the first goal of the 4-1 state quarterfinal win over West Perry Nov. 12.
No scouting report was going to stop Pizano Tuesday with a state championship berth on the line.
Pizano made two more penalty strokes, ripping shots into the cage out of the reach of and above the goalie’s extended right arm. The first again opened the scoring; the second, with no time on the clock and overtime looming if she missed, Pizano used to give Wyoming Area a 3-2 victory over Oley Valley.
“Same spot; same shot,” Pizano said after clinching Saturday’s state championship game berth.
Just as her quarterfinal postgame explanation would have indicated if it was a preview of what’s ahead rather than an explanation of what she had just done an hour earlier.
“I usually always go for the top corner or the top of the net,” Pizano said. “Usually, no matter if the goalie knows where you are going or not, if it’s a good shot, it’s going to go in.”
Pizano proved her point with the 2-for-2 effort in the state semifinals, 3-for-3 in the state tournament and a 4-for-5 success rate on the season.
It’s a skill that can be practiced and refined endlessly with no guarantee it will ever be needed.
But when Wyoming Area needed a shooter in two of its three biggest games, Pizano was ready.
“We have a lot of trust and belief in Bianca,” coach Bree Bednarski said.
That Pizano even had the chance to win the game that way was the result of clutch plays by defender Alyvia Yatsko and season scoring leader Lyla Rehill beginning with 14 seconds left in regulation.
The teams had been tied at 2-2 since 9:43 remained in the first half and Wyoming Area held a distinct advantage in possession from four minutes left in the third quarter until the game’s final three minutes.
In those three minutes, however, Oley Valley, which never did manage a shot or penalty corner over the final 19:16, applied pressure, keeping the ball inside the 25-yard line most of the time.
When Wyoming Area came up with a stop for a 16-yard free hit out of its defensive end with the clocking ticking at toward 15 seconds, a sigh of relief and a cautious approach to getting to overtime might have been understandable.
None of the Warriors, however, were thinking that way.
“I wanted just to end the game right here,” said Yatsko, a junior defender. “ … I wanted to finish this game during the actual game; I didn’t want it to go into overtime.
“I saw a perfect gap to Lyla so I just shot it up as hard as I could. She just worked her magic, got a corner and we luckily got a stroke.”
Yatsko ripped a hard drive from the middle to Rehill on the left side.
From there, the sophomore went to work.
“I was hoping we could still get it down there again, get a corner out of it and make something happen,” Bednarski said. “I was just so happy to see that happen.”
Rehill dribbled up the sideline nearly 60 yards, angling into the circle where she drew a foul with one second left. Defensive infractions in the circle result in penalty corners, which, by rule, must be played to completion when time expires.
“I looked up at the clock and saw Lyla dribbling down,” Pizano said. “There was about eight seconds left and I knew that gave her enough time to get that corner to get it in.”
While six Oley Valley defenders retreated to midfield, Wyoming Area lined up for the penalty corner content that it could only result in a win or overtime. They could not lose as they aggressively attacked on the ensuing play.
Pizano sent one shot toward the goal and when Wyoming Area’s Ella McKernan, Juliana Gonzales and Rehill all feverishly worked to free the rebound near the right post, goalie Cenora Grim was called for laying on top of the ball, illegally covering it from opponents, resulting in the winning penalty stroke try.
The shot lifted Wyoming Area past the team that had ended its two previous deepest trips into the postseason with 2-0 shutouts in the 2019 and 2021 state semifinals.
Before the winning sequence, Wyoming Area had twice led by a goal in the first half.
Pizano opened the scoring with her first penalty stroke and Alexys Moore, the team’s other senior captain, created a 2-1 lead with a shot from the right wing on a penalty corner late in the first quarter.
