FIELD HOCKEY
The Mid-Penn knows drama
It is no secret that the Mid-Penn Conference plays a high-quality brand of high school field hockey. But its not just that several teams are good — they are also well matched against each other.
Well enough that, out of four division in the league, one title will be determined in a tie-breaker and two others were determined in the last game of the season.
The tie-breaker game will be between Big Spring and Boiling Springs at Memorial Field in Mechanicsburg at 4:30 p.m. Monday for the Colonial Division. That became necessary when the Bubblers downed the Bulldogs 2-0 on Friday, putting both teams at 9-1 in division play.
Boiling Spring’s one loss was a 1-0 defeat against Big Spring on Sept. 20.
Lydia George is the leading scorer for the Bulldogs with 22 goals and nine assists. Lindsay Bower and Kylie Brandt have eight goals each.
Across the field from them on Monday will be the Bubblers’ Jill Susi (14 goals) and Morgan Speakman (12 goals).
Likely starters in goal would be Jordan Yaukey for Big Spring and Delaney Gitt for Boiling Springs.
Also on Friday, Central Dauphin took the Commonwealth Division title with a 6-0 blanking of Cedar Cliff. That victory allowed the Rams to jump over Cumberland Valley for the crown. Central Dauphin finished 12-1-1, while Cumberland Valley was 12-2.
Like the top teams in the Capital, the Commonwealth leaders split with each other. Cumberland Valley won 1-0 in overtime on Sept. 12, but Central Dauphin won 6-1 on Oct. 2.
The Rams will host the winner of the Colonial Division in the Mid-Penn semifinals on Tuesday.
In the Capital Division, Milton Hershey defeated Northern 2-0 on Wednesday, allowing the Spartans to clinch the title in their last division game. Milton Hershey finished at 11-1 and held off second place West Perry, which was 9-1-2.
The Keystone Division was the lone division not to come down to the last day, but that may have reflected the order of games on the schedule more than the differential between the teams. Lower Dauphin won the title with a 12-0 division mark. Palmyra finished 10-2, with both losses to the Falcons.
If Lower Dauphin and Palmyra had met to end the season, instead of having their last game against each other on Oct. 1, the Keystone would have had as much drama as the other divisions.
Lower Dauphin will host Milton Hershey in Tuesday’s Mid-Penn semifinals.
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