They say a good goalie can erase a defense’s mistakes. They also say that when one gets hot, he or she can can carry a team a long way.

The Palmyra field hockey team couldn’t have reached the state championship game without the stellar play of Cheyenne Sprecher.

This week, it was the performance of Sprecher which helped propel the Cougars to their third straight PIAA title tilt. Now a senior, Sprecher has been in the cage for each of those three runs.

Behind Sprecher’s aggressive, heady and steady play, Palmyra shut out rival Lower Dauphin 1-0 on Tuesday night at Milton Hershey School’s Henry Hershey Field, in the semifinals of the state playoffs. The outcome pushed Palmyra into Saturday’s PIAA Class AAA championship game at Whitehall-Coplay School District’s Zephyr Sports Complex, opposite District 11 champion Emmaus.

The shutout was Sprecher’s second in the state playoffs and her fourth postseason whitewashing overall.

Sprecher has committed to continue her athletic and academic pursuits by accepting a full grant-in-aid to Division One University of Connecticut.

– Jeff Falk