Switch to 3 classes gives Penn-Trafford field hockey another shot at postseason

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, October 22, 2017 | 6:09 PM

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Penn-Trafford field hockey coach Cindy Dutt can sense excitement radiating from her team. It comes from being in the postseason again as the Warriors prepare to defend their WPIAL Class AA title.

After all, it was only a couple of years ago that the Warriors' season would've been over after a fourth-place finish in Section 1-AAA. But the WPIAL's decision to split field hockey into three classes beginning last season opened the door for more teams to play for a championship.

The Warriors have taken advantage.

Penn-Trafford will host the winner of Oakland Catholic and Woodland Hills at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the championship match.

Oakland Catholic and Woodland Hills, the other two teams in Class AA, face off in a play-in game Monday.

The Warriors defeated Oakland Catholic, 6-1, in last year's final. They blanked the Eagles, 6-0, in the regular season this year and did not face Woodland Hills.

Penn-Trafford finished 4-6 in the regular season with a schedule of mostly Class AAA opponents. Dutt and her team are appreciative that, as a mid-sized school, they are able to play in a separate bracket for the postseason.

“It's exciting because you know you have this opportunity,” Dutt said. “Whoever wins out of Oakland Catholic and Woodland Hills will be excited to have this opportunity, too, because the smaller schools didn't have this before.

“We'd always finish mid-pack in our section, and then our season was over. When they started looking at the school sizes they decided we'd play up in class during the regular season, and then we play in our class for postseason. I was like, ‘OK, I'm good with that.' ”

The Warriors entered the season with only three returning starters and five total holdovers from last season.

The returning starters — Alayna Wagner, Emily Polakovsky and Jordyn Bachman — have played a key role in helping develop younger players. Wagner led the team in goals for the second consecutive year, and Polakovsky wasn't far behind.

“They've been really good at bringing along the younger players,” Dutt said. “They've kind of mentored them with like helping them out with ways to look at things in situations that they haven't seen before.”

Newcomer Kaylie Melnick was one of the girls whom the veterans tutored. Melnick hit her stride late in the season, scoring six goals over the final couple of weeks.

The defense also made gains in the second half. The Warriors posted shutouts over Hempfield, Oakland Catholic and Latrobe. The return of Danielle Ochendowski, who was sidelined with injury to start the year, helped solidify the defense.

“Our defense really started to jell in the second half,” Dutt said. “We understand each other a little bit more, so now they know what my expectations are, the different formations we run and I think it's been a very good development in the season.

“My two sophomore goaltenders (Sarah Letham and Samantha Doherty) have done a really good job. They saw a lot more action than they did last year as far as the pace and the strength of shots, and I thought they did really well with that.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

Tags: Penn-Trafford