Wyoming Area’s Bianca Pizano pursues a rebound in front of Holy Redeemer goalie Emma Midkiff-Humm. Also pictured from left are: Wyoming Area’s Antonia Minichello (10), Kayla Kiwak and Samara Campenni (1) and Holy Redeemer’s Abby Jones (9), Hannah Kern, Ava Fino (19) and Mia Fino (4).
Tom Robinson | For Times Leader
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Wyoming Area’s field hockey team walked off its home field after a scary, 1-0 victory over Holy Redeemer Wednesday with a pretty good idea what was next, even if it was not until hours later that Wyoming Seminary made the District 2 Class A championship rematch official with a 3-1 triumph over Lake-Lehman.
Pittston Area’s coaches and players thought they had earned a district championship game berth and a day off after their breakthrough, 1-0 victory over Dallas, only to find out soon after that uncertainty now surrounds the District 2 Class 2A playoffs.
Wyoming Valley West, like Wyoming Seminary, a top seed and a defending state and district champion in its classification, had earlier been considered out of the district playoffs when COVID-19 concerns shut down all sports at the school. Its semifinal game against the Pittston Area-Dallas winner was still being listed on the bracket on the district’s website as a forfeit as of Wednesday night, but the Wyoming Valley West School Board is scheduled to meet Thursday at noon and Pittston Area is now on standby waiting for the possibility that the Spartans will request and be allowed back in.
If Wyoming Valley West is able to return, it will host Pittston Area Friday in a semifinal that will decide which team opposes the Crestwood-Wallenpaupack winner in Tuesday’s final.
The day off that Pittston Area coach Kate Connors gave her team for Thursday? That will be wiped away so the team can practice for a Friday semifinal instead of beginning championship game preparations Friday.
If Wyoming Valley West rescinds its forfeit, Connors will, in turn, be taking back that day off she gave her team.
Wyoming Area 1, Holy Redeemer 0
WEST PITTSTON – Wyoming Area outshot visiting Holy Redeemer, 23-0, at Atlas Field, but still spent more than three quarters one mistake away from trouble and the last 12 minutes one away from overtime.
Kayla Kiwak scored the game’s only goal and the Wyoming Area defense and midfield limited Holy Redeemer’s threats in the sometimes-uncomfortable semifinal victory over a team the Warriors beat, 7-0, five weeks ago.
“It shows that when a team basically plays defense against you and their goal is just to make it hard for you to get shots off and score, it makes it extremely difficult,” Wyoming Area coach Erin McGinley said. “We didn’t help ourselves any because we probably had about five or six goals on the goal line that we didn’t complete. … That’s how it ended up being a 1-0 game.”
By not converting, Wyoming Area allowed Holy Redeemer to remain within striking distance.
“Maybe 90 percent of the game was in the offensive 50, maybe even the offensive 25,” McGinley said. “They got one corner and almost scored on it and they got the ball with under two minutes left inside our 25 just because we weren’t making smart decisions with the ball. Unfortunately, that happens at times when you have a young team.”
Wyoming Area’s dominance was its most extreme in the third quarter when it got off 11 shots, with the help of six penalty corners, without scoring.
On the second attempt of the fourth quarter, Kiwak emphatically broke through with a bullet from about a foot inside the top of the circle after maneuvering to find room while double-teamed.
“It was really hard to get an open shot because their defense was everywhere,” Kiwak said. “ … I pulled left to go reverse and then I saw that wasn’t open, so then I spun out. I was actually trying to get the corner, but then I saw the shot and I took it.”
Holy Redeemer had only spent about one second just inches inside the 25 on its offensive half of the field in the second half before sending a ball off the end line on its only surge up field with 1:33 left in the game.
The Royals crossed midfield again on the attack before defensive midfielder Makenzie Switzer knocked down a Holy Redeemer drive and dribbled all the way to the end line, taking time off the clock in the final minute.
“I stepped in front of the ball and saw it and knew that I had to just take it down myself on my stick so I didn’t get a foul or didn’t throw the ball away,” Switzer said.
Holy Redeemer’s only penalty corner came with 5:22 left in the first quarter.
Wyoming Area began applying more pressure over the last nine minutes of the first half, then continued that through the third quarter.
Emma Midkiff-Humm, who finished with 16 saves, kept the Warriors off the scoreboard until Kiwak’s fourth-quarter shot.
“Emma did fantastic,” Holy Redeemer coach Hannah Beach said. “One thing we’ve been working on was keeping her upright in goal, so she didn’t make a dive too soon. It’s hard for goalies to get back up after the dive. She did excellent on that today.
“She was taking shot after shot and was able to re-position on the angles.”
After a 4-9 regular season in which the team sat for a while unable to practice because of COVID-19 precautions, the Royals avenged one loss in a Monday playoff upset of Lackawanna Trail and gave the 2019 state semifinalists trouble before being eliminated.
Wyoming Area earned a chance to avenge its only loss of this season and losses in the last two district championship games when it faces Wyoming Seminary Monday for the championship and the district’s only state Class A berth.
Pittston Area 1, Dallas 0
HUGHESTOWN – Pittston Area finished tied for first place in Division 2 of the Wyoming Valley Conference before losing a playoff for the title in a shootout Monday against Wallenpaupack.
The team’s improvement after two winless conference seasons, however, was still missing one element – a win over a team from Division 1, which the Patriots used to call home.
Kaitlyn Bucci’s third-quarter goal and Arianna Pisano’s 12 saves changed that.
Pittston Area entered the game 8-8 overall with losses in all five non-league games against its former Division 1 rivals.
“That was kind of what we were driving home,” Patriots coach Kate Connors said. “Obviously, Pittston Area field hockey has come a long way from the last year or two.
“A lot of people are focusing on the move to Division 2, … but we came up huge in a Division 1 game, a playoff game, and were able to beat Dallas. It showed that we have improved, we’re doing well and we’re able to compete with anybody.”
Getting past Dallas, however, was not easy.
The Mountaineers (6-8) had a penalty corner with no time left to try to score and extend the game into overtime.
Dallas moved the ball around the circle and had a shot from about 12 yards out on the left side, but defender Amber Jenkins stopped it and cleared the ball out the opposite side to end the game.
Bucci got off a quick shot on the game-winner.
Jianna Eike made the penalty corner insert to Bucci, just outside the right post at the top of the circle. Bucci made a quick, clean stop, pushed the ball forward into the circle and got her shot off in a hurry, sending it through to the back of the cage untouched.
Pisano did the rest.
“She had an awesome game,” Connors said. “She was a rock down there.
“She came up huge and then when Dallas got that corner at the end, she got the defense set, kept everything calm and Amber Jenkins cleared it out.”
When she did, Pittston Area improved to 6-4 in one-goal games in a season filled with tense finishes.
Wyoming Seminary 3, Lake-Lehman 1
Emma Watchilla assisted the goal that erased a second-quarter deficit, then scored both second-half goals for Wyoming Seminary in its Class A semifinal victory under the light on its home field.
Grace O’Donnell scored, on an Ava Radel assist, early in the second quarter to put Lake-Lehman in front.
Isabella Pisano lifted Wyoming Seminary into a halftime tie by scoring with 5:01 left in the second quarter.
Watchilla then scored unassisted goals 6:34 apart, late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.
Mia Magnotta made 13 saves in the win.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Crestwood 3, Pittston Area 0
The Comets opened the quarterfinals of the District 2/4 subregional-3A playoffs with a win over Pittston Area in three sets 25-21, 25-17 and 25-16.
Ellie Glowacki led the way for Crestwood with nine kills, nine service points and three aces. Kelsey Kulak added 10 service points, three blocks and four kills.
Crestwood will play the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal game between Berwick and Shamokin in the semifinals.
Tunkhannock 3, North Pocono 1
Tunkhannock defeated North Pocono in thefirst round of the D2/4 subregional-3A playoffs. The Tigers dropped the first set 25-23, but went on to win three straight sets 25-8, 25-22 and 26-24.
Emily Schultz had a great game for the Tigers, racking up 17 service points, six aces, 23 assists, two kills and 13 digs. Dana Macko added 24 digs, one ace, six service points, eight kills and three blocks and Emma Elais exploded with 32 digs, four aces and 11 service points.
Tunkhannock will play the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between Athens and Nanticoke Area.
GIRLS TENNIS
The D2-2A doubles semifinals had a time for the matches set on Wednesday. The semifinal matches will be played Monday at Kirby park. The semifinal matches will be at 11:30 a.m. and the championship will follow.
The D2-3A doubles championships are set to be played at 1 p.m. today with the championship following. The event will take place at Birchwood Tennis and Fitness Center in Abington Township.
CROSS COUNTRY
The District 2 cross country championships have hit another change, this time due to inclement weather expected for the both days of the event.
The girls races have been moved from Thursday to Sunday and the boys races have been moved from Friday to Monday.
District 2 Class 2A Quarterfinals
Pittston Area 1, Dallas 0
Dallas`0`0`0`0 — 0
Pittston Area`0`0`1`0 — 1
Third Quarter – 1. Kaitlyn Bucci (Jianna Eike) 8:54.
Shots on goal – DAL 12, PA 9. Saves – DAL 4 (Amanda Puza), PA 12 (Arianna Pisano). Penalty corners – DAL 13, PA 5.
District 2 Class A Semifinals
Wyoming Area 1, Holy Redeemer 0
Holy Redeemer`0`0`0`0 — 0
Wyoming Area`0`0`0`1 — 1
Fourth Quarter – 1. Kayla Kiwak 12:14.
Shots – HR 0, WA 23. Saves – HR 16 (Emma Midkiff-Humm), WA 0 (Carly Saranchuk). Penalty corners – HR 1, WA 14.
Wyoming Seminary 3, Lake-Lehman 1
Lake-Lehman`0`1`0`0 — 1
Wyo. Seminary`0`1`1`1 — 3
Second Quarter – 1. LL, Grace O’Donnell (Ava Radel) 10:26; 2. SEM, Isabella Pisano (Emma Watchilla) 5:01. Third Quarter – 3. SEM, Watchilla 3:44; Fourth Quarter – 4. SEM, Watchilla 12:10.
Shots – LL 14, SEM 20. Saves – LL 11 (Faye Post), SEM 13 (Mia Magnotta). Penalty corners – LL 7, SEM 5.