HERSHEY – Stealing headlines. Capturing imaginations. And breaking hearts.
The Annville-Cleona field hockey team has been the most compelling sports story in Lebanon County this fall. Yesterday the Little Dutchmen authored another chapter for their gripping tale.
On a chilly Wednesday evening at Milton Hershey School’s Henry Hershey Field, Annville-Cleona opened play in the District Three Class A postseason tournament with a resounding 3-0 whitewashing of Wyomissing. The Little Dutchmen set the stage for the victory by netting a pair of goals in the game’s first 12 minutes, as five different members figured in the scoring.
It was just another accomplishment in what is shaping up to be the finest field hockey season in Annville-Cleona history.
With the win, the fifth-seeded Little Dutchmen improved to 18-2 overall and barged into Saturday’s quarterfinal opposite fourth-seeded Schuylkill Valley, which blitzed Elco 5-0, at a site and time to be determined. Because District Three sends its top five representatives to the PIAA Class A playoffs, Annville-Cleona is assured of at least two more games this season.
Wyomissing, the 12th seed, completed its year at 10-8.
“There were like little bumble bees,” said Annville-Cleona head coach Sue Felty of her troops’ pregame demeanor. “So anxious to play. They were very excited. They were all abuzz.
“I told them we’ve got to win the first game,” Felty continued. “If you win the first game, it opens other doors. States is a possibility. We talked about that.”
The Little Dutchmen broke from the gates well thanks to an athletic collaboration between two of their most prolific forwards, and scored on their first shot.
Katelyn Brightbill played a ball to Michaela Singer from the top of the circle. In one fell swoop and without settling the pass, Singer turned and ripped a drive to the far corner of the Spartans’ cage.
It was Singer’s 23rd goal of the campaign.
“She’s a softball player,” said Felty of Singer. “I think that’s the softball player in her. She likes to time that, turn and line it up. But she’s probably missed more of those than she’s made.
“It (registering a district win last season) definitely helps,” continued Felty. “It’s some experience we didn’t have prior to that. Nerves seemed to be a factor. But today that did not seem to be the case.”
Four minutes later, Annville-Cleona doubled its advantage.
From a penalty corner, the ball was played to Lauren Schrader in the middle of the circle. Schrader fed the unattended Cass Connelly at the left post, and Connelly jammed it home.
“It feels really good,” said Felty. “After not playing for a week-and-a-half, the biggest concern was not getting started. Those goals were a huge lift. I didn’t know much about them (the Spartans). I knew they had a good scorer. We were a little concerned about that.”
“The most I remember about goals are the ones we miss,” added Felty. “The team scored. It wasn’t one girl. A lot led up to the goal. But a lot of times I don’t remember who put it in the cage.”
The Little Dutchmen did their best to protect their lead by staying on the offensive. That approach finally paid off with 3:48 remaining, when Emily Brightbill notched the clincher.
Again resulting from a corner, an initial Annville-Cleona shot on Wyomissing goalie Tina Faust was saved. But E. Brightbill was on the right post to knock in the rebound.
“This is only our fifth game on turf this season,” said Felty. “But I think most of the girls prefer it. I think most of the girls feel like they’re in their element. We did get some practice on turf. We tried to hone our skills. It helps our passing. We like a fast game, so turf helps us.”
Annville-Cleona won the war partly because it won the shots-on-goal battle 14-4. But the penalty-corner skirmish went to Wyomissing, to the tune of 9-6.
Little Dutchmen net minder Haley Zimmerman logged three saves to register the shutout.
“The last ten minutes of the first half I felt like we were on our heels,” said Felty. “We may have lost a little of our conditioning. But the defense came through big. They really stepped it up.
“I looked at last Saturday (a loss to Warwick in the opening round of the league playoffs) as a no-win situation,” Felty added. “No one expected us to beat Warwick. But I didn’t expect that to impact this game at all.”
To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to www.https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/?page_id=40462.
2016 Annville-Cleona Field Hockey Results | |||
Date | Teams | Score | |
9/02 4:00 pm |
Lancaster Country Day at Annville-Cleona |
1 5 |
|
9/06 3:45 pm |
Annville-Cleona at Bishop McDevitt |
4 0 |
|
9/07 4:00 pm |
Pequea Valley at Annville-Cleona |
0 1 |
|
9/09 4:00 pm |
Annville-Cleona at Lebanon |
7 0 |
|
9/13 4:00 pm |
Lancaster Catholic at Annville-Cleona |
1 0 |
|
9/17 9:00 am |
Brandywine Heights at Annville-Cleona |
0 7 |
|
9/17 11:30 am |
Berks Catholic at Annville-Cleona |
0 2 |
|
9/19 4:00 pm |
Annville-Cleona at Lancaster Mennonite |
5 1 |
|
9/21 4:00 pm |
Annville-Cleona at Northern Lebanon |
8 1 |
|
9/23 4:00 pm |
Elco at Annville-Cleona |
0 6 |
|
9/26 4:00 pm |
Annville-Cleona at Pequea Valley |
1 0 |
|
9/28 4:00 pm |
Lebanon at Annville-Cleona |
0 9 |
|
9/30 4:00 pm |
Annville-Cleona at Lancaster Catholic |
3 0 |
|
10/03 4:00 pm |
Tulpehocken at Annville-Cleona |
0 3 |
|
10/06 4:00 pm |
Lancaster Mennonite at Annville-Cleona |
1 5 |
|
10/08 10:00 am |
Annville-Cleona at Camp Hill |
1 0 |
|
10/10 4:00 pm |
Northern Lebanon at Annville-Cleona |
1 5 |
|
10/12 4:00 pm |
Annville-Cleona at Elco |
3 0 |
|
10/15 12:00 pm |
Warwick Annville-Cleona at Penn Manor |
4 0 |
|
10/26 5:00 pm |
Wyomissing Annville-Cleona at Milton Hershey |
PIAA District Three
Class A Power Rankings
A | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP |
1 | Oley Valley | 17- | 0- | 0 | 0.770197 | 1.000000 | 0.489326 |
2 | Greenwood | 16- | 2- | 0 | 0.717195 | 0.893333 | 0.501914 |
3 | Bermudian Springs | 17- | 1- | 0 | 0.714115 | 0.939024 | 0.439225 |
4 | Schuylkill Valley | 15- | 1- | 0 | 0.707186 | 0.932432 | 0.431884 |
5 | Annville Cleona | 17- | 1- | 0 | 0.674725 | 0.922078 | 0.372405 |
6 | Boiling Springs | 12- | 5- | 0 | 0.628173 | 0.711111 | 0.526803 |
7 | Newport | 14- | 4- | 0 | 0.588408 | 0.700000 | 0.452019 |
8 | Lancaster Catholic | 13- | 4- | 1 | 0.585230 | 0.712500 | 0.429678 |
9 | Tulpehocken | 13- | 5- | 0 | 0.555858 | 0.654762 | 0.434975 |
10 | Littlestown | 12- | 5- | 1 | 0.545366 | 0.636905 | 0.433486 |
11 | Kennard Dale | 11- | 5- | 0 | 0.535548 | 0.635135 | 0.413831 |
12 | Wyomissing | 10- | 7- | 0 | 0.503963 | 0.511905 | 0.494257 |
13 | Eastern Lebanon County | 11- | 6- | 1 | 0.496969 | 0.584270 | 0.390267 |
14 | Bishop McDevitt | 8- | 6- | 3 | 0.488780 | 0.523529 | 0.446309 |
15 | Camp Hill | 8- | 7- | 3 | 0.480657 | 0.477011 | 0.485113 |
16 | Susquehanna Township | 7- | 10- | 1 | 0.452213 | 0.415663 | 0.496885 |
17 | Lancaster Mennonite | 8- | 9- | 0 | 0.411296 | 0.413793 | 0.408245 |
18 | Hanover | 9- | 9- | 0 | 0.407722 | 0.417582 | 0.395669 |
19 | Eastern York | 6- | 12- | 0 | 0.381500 | 0.290323 | 0.492939 |
20 | Biglerville | 7- | 11- | 0 | 0.357467 | 0.326087 | 0.395820 |
21 | Kutztown | 4- | 11- | 2 | 0.350819 | 0.258065 | 0.464185 |
22 | Lancaster Country Day School | 6- | 12- | 0 | 0.349061 | 0.290000 | 0.421247 |
23 | Northern Lebanon | 5- | 13- | 0 | 0.339757 | 0.234694 | 0.468167 |
24 | Brandywine Heights | 4- | 14- | 0 | 0.332784 | 0.188119 | 0.509596 |
25 | Middletown | 2- | 15- | 1 | 0.291535 | 0.135417 | 0.482346 |
26 | Susquenita | 1- | 16- | 1 | 0.286803 | 0.058824 | 0.565445 |
27 | Delone Catholic | 3- | 11- | 0 | 0.280015 | 0.168831 | 0.415907 |
28 | Hamburg | 1- | 15- | 1 | 0.264247 | 0.089888 | 0.477353 |
29 | Fairfield | 2- | 13- | 0 | 0.255738 | 0.136364 | 0.401639 |
30 | Pequea Valley | 0- | 17- | 0 | 0.204698 | 0.000000 | 0.454885 |
Final Lancaster-Lebanon League | ||||||||||
Section Three Standings | ||||||||||
League | Overall | |||||||||
W | L | T | PCT | W | L | T | PCT | PS | PA | |
Annville-Cleona | 11 | 1 | 0 | 91.67 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 89.47 | 75 | 9 |
Lancaster Catholic | 10 | 1 | 1 | 87.50 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 71.05 | 38 | 32 |
Elco | 8 | 3 | 1 | 70.83 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 63.89 | 36 | 11 |
Lancaster Mennonite | 6 | 6 | 0 | 50.00 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 47.06 | 30 | 29 |
Northern Lebanon | 4 | 8 | 0 | 33.33 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 26.67 | 16 | 33 |
Lebanon | 2 | 10 | 0 | 16.67 | 4 | 13 | 0 | 23.53 | 8 | 69 |
Pequea Valley | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 12 |