Wyoming Area’s Ella McKernan, left, is congratulated by Juliana Gonzales, center, and Lyla Rehill, right, after scoring against Wyomissing in Tuesday’s PIAA Class A tournament opener at Lake-Lehman.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area’s Lyla Rehill moves the ball against Wyomissing in the first quarter of the state opener.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area’s Lucia Campenni, left, scored the second goal for the Warriors on Tuesday against Wyomissing.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyomissing goalie Mallory King tries to kick the ball away from Wyoming Area’s Juliana Gonzales as Wyomissing defender Bailey King reaches to gain control of the ball.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area’s Ella McKernan drives toward the goal against Wyomissing’s Bailey Loeb on Tuesday.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
LEHMAN TWP. — Wyoming Area frantically fought back from its only two-goal deficit of the season, last time out, in the District 2 championship game.
There were no deficits with which to deal when the PIAA Class A field hockey tournament opened Tuesday.
There are not goals to overcome when you hold opponents without a shot or penalty corner.
That’s exactly what Wyoming Area did while getting two goals from Lyla Rehill as it advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals with a 4-0 victory over Wyomissing at Lake-Lehman’s Edward Edwards Stadium.
District 2 champion Wyoming Area (19-0) will face Susquenita (18-3-2) Saturday in a state quarterfinal. Susquenita defeated District 11 champion Northwestern Lehigh 1-0 in double overtime Tuesday.
Wyoming Area has spent the vast majority of the last 92 minutes of action in and around its offensive circle since falling behind Lake-Lehman 2-0 in the district final that it rallied to win in overtime.
“I think we looked great,” said Ella McKernan, who joined Lucia Campenni in scoring the other Wyoming Area goals. “We’ve just got to keep it up and not let ourselves slow down.”
McKernan’s goal gave Wyoming Area a 3-0 halftime lead.
Rehill added her second goal and the Warriors continued to dominate possession in the second half, never letting Wyomissing, the sixth-place team from District 3, mount a threat.
“I think we can do a little bit better job of carrying that energy we had in the second half of the district final game into the remaining games this season,” Wyoming Area coach Bree Bednarski said. “But, I think we played pretty well tonight. There’s a couple things that we’re going to fix.”
Rehill, fresh off the title-winning, game-winner last week, scored the game’s first and last goals. The Rutgers commit ripped a reverse shot into the cage with a minute left in the first quarter.
Lucia Campenni made it 2-0 with 11:38 left in the half on the last of three straight shots the team got from close range. Jules Gonzales first tried to score on the rebound of an Ella Campenni shot, but when the ball was saved and came back to her, she slid a pass to Lucia Campenni, who was all alone at the left post.
McKernan’s goal came at the end of a high-speed, 50-yard charge up the middle, dribbling as she weaved around defenders. As goalie Mallory King tried to make the stop, McKernan got off a shot while lunging to her right for the three-goal lead with 1:36 left in the half.
“That’s something I’ve been working on, controlling the ball and not losing it,” McKernan said.
Rehill capped the scoring with 1:01 left in the third.
“I feel like we’ve been playing pretty well with each other,” she said of the last six-plus quarters. “We’ve been connecting well and putting some balls in the cage.”
PIAA Class A first round
Wyoming Area 4, Wyomissing 0
Wyomissing`0`0`0`0 — 0
Wyoming Area`1`1`2`0 — 4
First — 1, WA, Lyla Rehill, 1:00. Second – 2, WA, Lucia Campenni (Jules Gonzales) 11:38; 3, WA, Ella McKernan, 1:36. Third – 4, WA, Lyla Rehill (Claudia Rehill) 1:01.
Shots at goal — W 0, WA 17. Goalie saves — W 8 (Mallory King), WA 0. Penalty corners — W 0, WA 12.
