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FACTORYVILLE — With its hopes for a district championship seemingly smothered, Hazleton Area did the next-best thing to grabbing a gold medal.
The Cougars made things interesting, if only for a little while.
And when Jill Buchman and Kacee Diehl scored rapid-fire goals 40 seconds apart Wednesday, it appeared Hazleton Area had some new life.
“I got pretty nervous,” Lackawanna Trail forward Courtney Dwyer said.
In the end, there was no reason for the Lions to sweat.
Dwyer scored two goals, Elizabeth Rodenbach added a goal and two assists. And Lackawanna Trail used a quick-strike attack of its own in the early moments of the second half to handle Hazleton Area 5-2 in the District 2 Class 3A field hockey championship game at Lackawanna Trail High School.
“It means so much,” said Dwyer, who scored both of her goals in a 15-minute span of the second half. “I’ve been playing with these girls since I was in fourth or fifth grade.”
The victory sends 8-5-1 Trail into Tuesday’s state play-in game against District 6 champion State College.
“I think we all look forward to it,” Dwyer said. “We’re all really excited to play next week.”
The victory rewarded Trail with its first District 2 Class 3A title since 2008. And it more than made up for a late-season swoon of three consecutive losses followed by a tie over a four-game stretch that dropped the Lions out of the running for a Wyoming Valley Conference regular-season championship.
“Every team has their falls,” Dwyer said. “We just had to get right back up.”
The Cougars, who finished 8-6-2, will try to regroup next season after suffering their second straight defeat in the Class 3A district final.
Those are the only two years Hazleton Area has made a district field hockey championship game.
“I’m definitely on the side of being proud we came this far with our program,” Hazleton Area coach Mary Kelly said. “We had four freshmen out there at the end, so our future looks bright. We made it to this game two years in a row.”
The Cougars didn’t make it easy on Lackawanna Trail.
Hazleton Area, which tied Trail 2-2 during the regular season, frustrated the Lions offense in a scoreless game for the first 23 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Cougars hammered Trail with 19 shots, but Lions goalie Sarah Weisenfluh turned most of them away.
“We had a lot of opportunities, a lot of chances,” Kelly said. “We just couldn’t seem to finish.”
Before long, Hazleton Area’s season was finished, thanks to Dwyer and a charged-up Lions offense.
Rachel Beemer took a pass from Rodenbach and snuck home Trail’s first goal 6:40 from halftime, then the Lions charged out of intermission and pretty much put the game away.
Dwyer got it started, burying an assist from Lauren Beemer into the back of the cage 4:14 into the second half, and an avalanche seemed to follow. Just over a minute later, Madison Lee scored to give Trail a 3-0 lead, then Rodenbach hit Trails third goal in nine minute with 17:20 remaining,
“Once we scored the first goal of the second half, we knew we had to come out and keep firing,” Dwyer said. “We knew they (the Cougars) were good. Since we tied them, we knew we had to come out and get a lead.
“We really, really wanted it.”
Then Dwyer added a follow-up goal with 11:20 to play that put the Cougars five goals down, and in an inescapable hole.
“My position’s just to be on the post,” Dwyer said. “I was just where I had to be.”
Hazleton Area hardly had enough, though.
Buchman and Diehl struck like lightning, and suddenly, Hazleton Area was three goals down with 5:20 remaining. They quickly gained a penalty corner opportunity, but Weisenfluh blocked the final two of her 17 saves to thwart the late-game rally.
“I’m very, very proud of our team,” Kelly said, “because they didn’t give up. You’re down five goals, we brought them in and said, ‘You’re not supposed to give up, especially in a championship game.’ And they didn’t.”
Lake-Lehman 3,
Wyoming Seminary 2
Taylor Alba assisted on the game’s first two goals and Miranda Martin hit what proved to be the deciding goal in the final seconds of the opening half as the undefeated Black Knights staved off a charge from Sem in a District 2 Class A semifinal at Lehman.
The victory sends 15-0-1 Lehman into the district title game Tuesday at Wyoming Seminary and guaranteed the Black Knights their second consecutive appearance in the PIAA tournament as District 2’s first or second seed.
The Blue Knights finished their season at 13-3.
Alba fed Lilli Stepanski for the game’s first score a tick under seven minutes in, then Izzy Radel scored off an Alba assist to give the Black Knights a 2-0 advantage midway through the first half.
After Kelsey Reznick cut that lead in half with a goal for Sem with 7:46 to play in the opening half, Martin took an assist from Sarah Sabaleski and gave the Black Knights a 3-1 lead eight seconds before halftime.
Hannah Maxwell’s goal pulled the Blue Knights within a goal with 13:57 to play, but Sem couldn’t muster another against Lehman’s defense and goalie Alicia Galasso — who finished with five saves.
Holy Redeemer 2,
Northwest 0
Jesse Ornoski and Abby Shorts scored first-half goals and the Royals limited Northwest to three shots in a District 2 Class A semifinal game that sent Holy Redeemer to the district title game and earned the Royals a spot in the state playoffs.
Redeemer, now 14-0, will meet 15-0-1 Lake-Lehman in the district title game Tuesday. Both teams will advance to the PIAA Class A tournament.
Leah Mullery assisted Ornoski on the game’s first goal in the eighth minute, and Kayla Kruk added an assist when Shorts scored 74 seconds before halftime.
Randie Kuhar made three saves to preserve Holy Redeemer’s shutout.
District 2 Class 3A championship
Lack. Trail 5, Hazleton Area 2
Hazleton Area`0`2`—`2
Lackawanna Trail`1`4`—`5
First half — 1. LT, Rachel Beemer (Elizabeth Rodenbach), 6:40. Second half — 2. LT, Courtney Dwyer (Lauren Beemer), 25:46; 3. LT, Madison Lee (Lauren Baldwin), 23:25; 4. LT, Rodenbach (L. Beemer), 17:20; 5. LT, Dwyer (Rodenbach), 11:20; 6. HAZ, Jill Buchman, 6:00; 7. HAZ, Kacee Diehl, 5:20.
Shots — HAZ 19; LT 11. Saves — HAZ 6 (Margaret Fulton); LT 17 (Sarah Weisenfluh). Penalty corners — HAZ 22; LT 13.
District 2 Class A semifinals
Lake-Lehman 3, Wyo. Seminary 2
Wyo. Seminary`1`1`—`2
Lake-Lehman`3`0`—`3
First half — 1. LL, Lilli Stepanski (Taylor Alba), 23:01; 2. LL, Izzy Radel (Alba), 14:36; 3. WS, Kelsey Reznick 7:46; 4. LL, Miranda Martin (Sarah Sabaleski) 0:08. Second half — WS, Hannah Maxwell (Alex Wesneski), 13:57.
Shots — WS 7; LL 12. Saves — WS 9 (Alexis Sokach); LL 5 (Alicia Galasso). Penalty corners — WS 5; LL 8.
Holy Redeemer 2, Northwest 0
Northwest`0`0`—`0
Holy Redeemer`2`0`—`2
First half — 1. HR, Jesse Ornoski (Leah Mullery), 22:38; 2. HR, Abby Shorts (Kayla Kruk), 1:14.
Shots — NW 3; HR 8. Saves — NW 6 (Jackie Jones); HR 3 (Randie Kuhar). Penalty corners — NW 3; HR 7.