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HAZLETON — Many of the big guns who took Wyoming Valley West to three consecutive District 2 championships and on two straight deep playoff runs are gone.
The will to win is not.
Cameryn Forgash scored two goals and added an assist Thursday, Ariane Rupnick chipped in two assists and Valley West remained unbeaten in league play by dismantling Hazleton Area, 5-1 at Harman Geist Field.
“They still look pretty strong,” Hazleton Area coach Mary Kelly said of the Spartans. “They move to the ball well. I’m sure they’re going to go far.”
So far, Valley West has gone to the top of the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1, improving to 4-0 to join Wyoming Seminary and Lake-Lehman among the league’s early season unbeatens. Despite losing star scorer Karaline Stelma to graduation last year and graduating league MVP Madison Woods two years ago, the Spartans could be gearing up to make a third consecutive trip to the PIAA semifinals — or at least take home a District 2 title for a fourth straight season.
“We have a great group of seniors who will lead us into that,” Forgash, a junior, said.
One of those seniors, speedy midfielder Rina Tsioles, kept flying up and down the field until she hit Forgash for a goal that gave Valley West a 2-0 lead near the end of the first half.
But the Spartans got contributions from everywhere.
By the time they were finished, Paige Williams and Marissa Mooney also had goals and Jillian Bonczewski started the scoring with a lightning-quick shot off a penalty corner 2:10 into the game.
“Valley West is a very fast team, a very skillful team,” Kelly said.
With the skill of a surgeon, Forgash scored twice in a 13-minute span — hitting her first goal with 5:29 to play in the first half to give the Spartans breathing room, then scoring the first goal of the second half to give Valley West breathing room.
She also assisted on a score by Williams midway through the second half as the Spartans grew their lead to 4-0.
“It’s all team effort,” Forgash said.
Valley West outgunned its first three league opponents — Honesdale, Crestwood and Pittston Area — by a combined score of 22-0 and extended that string to 3 1/2 games without allowing a goal.
But Marissa Mooney broke the streak that ran for nearly 230 minutes of WVC play by finding the cage for the Cougars, who fell to 2-2, with 10:03 remaining. Along with becoming the first team to score on the Spartans this year, Hazleton Area finished as the first team in league play to stay within four goals of Valley West.
“Give Hazleton credit, they fought all the way to the end,” Valley West coach Linda Fithian said. “They had good transitions. They had a lot of energy going on out there. It was a good game.”
Valley West, though, immediately answered Hazleton Area’s goal when Mooney scored just 40 seconds later to ice the victory for the Spartans.
“They were definitely a fast team,” Forgash said of the Cougars, “especially in transitions. They are one of the really good teams. It’s always good competition, especially when we come up here.”
Berwick 2, Hanover Area 1
Peyton Lipsey scored both goals, Jackie Nevel made 10 saves and the Bulldogs held on to a one-goal lead and defeated the Hawkeyes.
Alexis Nevel finished with an assist in the victory.
Marina Ciavarella scored the only goal for the Hawkeyes and Rhiannon Danko picked up the assist.
Wyoming Seminary 7, Pittston Area 0
The Blue Knights rolled past Pittston Area behind three-point performances from Dani Reiser, Alex Wesneski, Hannah Maxwell and Emma Watchilla.
Reiser and Maxwell scored two goals and added an assist for three points. Watchilla scored a goal and added two assists and Wesneski had three assists as Sem improved to 4-0 and remained tied with Wyoming Valley West and Lake-Lehman for the WVC Division 1 lead.
Delaware Valley 1, Dallas 0
Olivia O’Grady scored the game’s only goal and Emily Festa made 13 saves as the Warriors fended off Dallas.
The Mountaineers outshot Delaware Valley 13-8, but came up empty against Festa.
Amanda Puza made seven saves for Dallas.
Wilkes-Barre Area 4, Honesdale 3
Abie Sorokas had a hand in all four goals and Briannah Lee made eight saves before leaving the game with a late 4-1 lead in Wilkes-Barre Area’s victory.
Sorokas scored twice to help the Wolfpack to a 3-0 halftime lead.
Valley West 5, Hazleton Area 1
Valley West`2`3 — 5
Hazleton Area`0`1 — 1
First half — 1. WVW, Jillian Bonczewski (Ariane Rupnik), 27:50; 2. WVW, Camryn Forgash (Rina Tsioles), 5:29. Second half — 3. WVW, Forgash (Rupnik), 23:27; 4. WVW, Paige Williams (Forgash), 17:59; 5. HAZ, Jillian Kringe (Kaitlyn Diehl), 10:43; 6. WVW, Marissa Mooney (Jenna Ravine), 10:03.
Shots — WVW 16; HAZ 3. Saves — WVW 2 (Sydney Rusnock); HAZ 11 (Elaina Ashman). Penalty corners — WVW 8; HAZ 3.
Berwick 2, Hanover Area 1
Hanover Area`1`0 — 1
Berwick`2`0 — 2
First Half — 1. BER, Peyton Lipsey, 23:25; 2. HAN, Marina Ciavarella (Rhiannon Danko), 18:23; 3. BER, Lipsey (Alexis Nevel), 8:45.
Shots — HAN 11; BER 7. Saves — HAN 5 (Kimberly Shere); BER 10 (Jackie Nevel). Corners — HAN 2; BER 4.
Wyoming Seminary 7, Pittston Area 0
Pittston Area`0`0 — 0
Wyoming Seminary`4`3 — 7
First Half — 1. WS, Dani Reiser (Alex Wesneski), 32:00; 2. WS, Hannah Maxwell (Wesneski), 25:15; 3. WS, Bari Lefkowitz (Reiser), 6:54; 4. WS, Reiser (Emma Watchilla), 6:00. Second Half — 5. WS, Watchilla (Maxwell), 27:50; 6. WS, Maxwell (Watchilla), 25:50; 7. WS, Anna Mozeleski (Wesneski) 13:10.
Shots — PA 1; SEM 22. Saves — PA 15 (Arianna Pisano); SEM 1 (Mia Magnotta). Corners — PA 0; SEM 10.
Delaware Valley 1, Dallas 0
Delaware Valley`0`1 — 1
Dallas`0`0 — 0
Second Half — 1. DV, Olivia O’Grady, 26:00.
Shots — DV 8; DAL 13. Saves — DV 13 (Emily Festa); DAL 7 (Amanda Puza). Corners — DV 2; DAL 8.
Wilkes-Barre Area 4, Honesdale 3
Honesdale`0`3 — 3
Wilkes-Barre Area`3`1 — 4
First Half – 1. WB, Jolene Ulichney (Abie Sorokas), 16:50; 2. Abie Sorokas (Candladia Washinski), 8:33; 3. Sorokas (Ulichney) 5:15. Second Half – 4. HON, Kirsten Johannes 12:07; 5. WB, Raven Bozek (Sorokas) 4:25; 6. HON, Leah Krol, 1:58; 7. HON, Chloe Nicolini 0:36.
Shots — HON 11, WB 13. Saves — HON 9 (Nicole Miszler); WB 8 (Briannah Lee 8, Olyvia Jackson 0). Corners — HON 7; WB 8.