Emmaus survives Whitehall for 23rd straight District 11 title

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Emmaus would admit that Whitehall players beat them to more 50-50 balls Saturday night.

The statistics suggest the Zephyrs forced one more penalty corner than Emmaus (8-7).

In the end, however, Emmaus found the cage more often. The Green Hornets (23-0) remained unbeaten while recording their 23rd straight District 11 title, winning the Class 3A crown 2-0 at Whitehall High School.

Senior Lena Phillips staked them to a 1-0 halftime lead with a spectacular individual effort. Midway through the first half, Phillips dribbled into the circle on the right side. Whitehall defender Megan Berner met her with a stick tackle. The players grappled for a few seconds through a standstill, the ball sandwiched between their sticks.



Phillips popped the ball forward, dove to get it, and somehow whacked it into the cage. Picture Bobby Orr's famous aerial goal, only have him do it with a reverse stick, like Phillips managed to do sprawled out at 5-foot-10.

"The goalie came out and thought if I was on the ground, (the shot) wouldn't count," said Phillips. "We were just talking about that at practice two days ago. Indoors you can have three points (two legs, one arm or some combination) down. Outdoors you can dive and still play the ball as long as it's not dangerous."

You could watch field hockey for a decade and not see a better athletic play.

In the second half, Whitehall controlled the action, dominating play for about 20 minutes. They didn't let Emmaus clear the ball from the zone. They forced pressure back toward the circle, where Emmaus' defense proved to be equally stingy.

The pressure resulted in three consecutive penalty corners. With Emmaus senior Allison Mikelson flying out hard, however, Whitehall hitters Kayla Bet and Rebecca Snyder couldn't unload shots.

Emmaus finally managed to reverse the field and hijack momentum.

On the Hornets' seventh penalty corner of the game, Mikelson fired a bullet shot that goaltender Kori Mutarelli pad saved. Allison Haas, Emmaus' sweeper pushing up on the penalty corner, hammered home the rebound for a 2-0 lead.

Haas knew what to do in the circle from playing midfield as a sophomore before moving to defense as a junior last year. As critical as her insurance goal felt, her defensive play in front of goalkeeper Meg Mitchell rebuked every Whitehall scoring threat and protected what at the time felt like a temporary advantage.

Said Whitehall coach Jenn Bodnar, "Our kids did everything we asked them to do tonight. I felt it was an even game; we definitely played right with them. We hit the post on a shot and they put theirs in. We had just as many sustained attacks as them."

Whitehall's best scoring chance came in the first half when Kayla Cunningham wedged between three defenders on a drive into the circle and fired a bullet that banged off the left goalpost.

The Zephyrs adjustment from two earlier defeats to Emmaus (4-0 & 3-1) was to move Kourtney Cunningham inside to add a second scorer to the middle where teams had clogged by shadowing Kayla.

Emmaus countered by draping Jess Unger on Kayla and Gabby Nosiotis on Kourtney.

Said Emmaus coach Sue Butz-Stavin, "We just mixed the puzzle tonight. That kind of took us out of our passing game (on offense)."

Emmaus' crisp, point-to-point passing turned into individual dribble drives for survival against the Zephyr double teams. What they managed to establish with defensive adjustments turned into problems at the offensive end.

Their disruptions of Whitehall's offense produced the same effect on their own.

Emmaus wasn't typical Emmaus until the post-game ceremony, when they were the ones donning the gold medals.

Again.

Emmaus advanced to the state tournament to play District One fifth seed Spring-Ford on Tuesday. Whitehall drew District 2 champion Wyoming Valley West.

Crestwood 4, Moravian Academy 1: In the 2A state playoff play-in game held before the 3A title game, Moravian Academy jumped ahead of Crestwood 1-0 on the Lions' first penalty corner.

After Lucy Pidcock lofted a high shot on goal that ricocheted off the pads of Danielle DeSpirito, Madi Sheetz one-timed a rebound shot for a 1-0 lead.



By that time, Crestwood (20-3) had 19 corners but no goals against Moravian goalkeeper Zoe Briggs.

The Comets answered 20 seconds later.

After a Moravian Academy player tackled an attacker from behind, the referees awarded a penalty stroke to Crestwood. Anna Dessaye fired it chest-high to Briggs' right. The Maryland recruit dominated the second half as Crestwood responded to its deficit with a resounding final 20 minutes.

Marissa Surdy scored twice and Chandler Ackers added another goal.

Crestwood outshot Moravian 20-3 and out-cornered them 27-3. The Comets advance out of the play-in round to Tuesday's state playoff official first round.

Moravian (17-6) capped a season in which it lost only to Southern Lehigh four times—including the Colonial League and District 11 2A championship--and Bangor before Saturday.

"We played a great team today," said Pidcock, who will go on to play at Davidson University next year. "But I'm so proud of our team. We haven't been to the state tournament in a long time, it feels like. I couldn't be more proud of what we accomplished in my senior year."

Crestwood was tied 0-0 with Bloomsburg in the last game before scoring three second-half goals. They followed the pattern Saturday.

Eventually Briggs became frustrated, drawing a yellow card that sent her to the sidelines for five minutes, Moravian playing a man short.

By then, the power had tilted heavily. Crestwood's lone losses this year have come against field hockey powers Selinsgrove, Penn Manor and Wyoming Seminary (1-0) in the District 2A final.

They advance to play Greenwood, the runner-up from District 3, on Tuesday.

Southern Lehigh, the District 11 2A champion, will play District 1 runner-up Upper Perkiomen on Tuesday.

CRESTWOOD 4, MORAVIAN ACADEMY 1

Moravian Academy 0-1—1

Crestwood 0-4—4

GOALS: MA-Madi Sheetz. C-Anna Dessaye, Marissa Surdy (2), Chandler Ackers.

ASSISTS: C-Jess Newak, Kelsey Jones. SHOTS: C, 20-3. CORNERS: C, 27-3. SAVES: MA-Zoe Briggs, 16, Greta Helvie 1. C-Danielle DeSpirito 2.

EMMAUS 2, WHITEHALL 0

Whitehall 0-0—0

Emmaus 1-1—2

GOALS: E-Lena Phillips, Allison Haas. ASSIST: Caitlin Bryan. SHOTS: E, 12-6. CORNERS: W, 8-7. SAVES: W-Kori Mutarelli 7 (two defender saves); E-Meg Mitchell 3 (two defender saves).

Bradley A. Huebner is a freelance writer.

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