Young Penn-Trafford field hockey team eyes 9th straight WPIAL championship

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, September 8, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Penn-Trafford field hockey has dominated Class 2A for the past eight years.

And despite returning only three starters, the young, inexperienced Warriors are off to a 2-0 start following 1-0 victories over Shady Side Academy and Latrobe.

Penn-Trafford, which captured its eighth straight WPIAL championship last fall, was hit hard by graduation. Included in that group was leading scorer Ava Hershberger, who is currently playing a defensive position at Ohio State.

She scored 140 career goals and was named first-team all-state. She scored 44 goals and had 103 points as a senior. Her sister Gwen is a goalie at Ohio.

Penn-Trafford coach Cindy Dutt said while it’s going to be hard to replace Hershberger’s scoring and leadership, she remains optimistic for the season.

“Yes, this is our big rebuilding year,” Dutt said. “To be fair, we haven’t had such a building year since probably 2012. We didn’t have many junior varsity games last year, and so we don’t have as much experience for the girls coming up.

“But with that in mind though, Ava couldn’t do it on her own. A lot of them learned from practicing with her. Do we have Ava in terms of her poise, speed and game knowledge? No. It’s going to have to be 100% team effort.”

Junior Liz Welsh scored both goals this season.

The three seniors Dutt is counting on to lead the way are midfielder Rilie Moors, midfielder Maura Spadone and defender Giuliana Youngo.

Others Dutt is counting are juniors Mallory Bachar (defender), Emma Chamberlin (midfielder), Lyla Gross (forward), Sarah Ley (forward), Irelyn O’Reilly (defender), Caeley Simon (midfielder), Leah Vislosky (goalie) and Welsh (forward); sophomores Lillian Crenshaw (midfielder) and Madi Garvish (goalie); and freshman Brooke Bauer (forward).

“Everyone is going to have to put up a little bit more energy than they did before,” Dutt said. “We’re trying to make sure that they understand that it’s everyone has to put a little bit more and focus a little more on their individual skills and their passing skills.

“We graduated our entire defense, but the girls that we’ve found to play defense are really good, and they’ve really stepped up. Our goalies didn’t have to face a shot in the Latrobe game.”

Dutt expects the team to make another run at the title.

She doesn’t know what Upper St. Clair and Peters Township return, but she expects her team to be in the running for another WPIAL title.

“I’m optimistic,” Dutt said. “We have the personnel to win. We’re just still trying to figure out where the best position for each player is.

“We’ve also changed our format. We usually were a 3-3-1-3 formation and now we’re doing a 2-3-2-3 which the girls really like because it extends the field and they’ve been holding their positions really well.”

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford