Fox Chapel ends field hockey reign of 8-time defending WPIAL champ Penn-Trafford

By: Ted Sarneso
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 | 9:39 PM

With four minutes to go in a tense tie game, Fox Chapel sophomore forward Emma Srodes brought the ball through the Penn-Trafford zone on a change of possession and fired a shot from 10 yards.

“We’ve been practicing that shot a lot in practice, the shot when I take the ball to the far left post,” said Srodes. “I’m so happy that all that practice paid off and the shot worked out.”

Srodes’ shot looked like it was headed for a deflection from teammate Melanie Pietz, but she let it go and the ball trickled past Warrior goalkeeper Leah Vislosky.

“It’s not easy to score a goal in the last couple of minutes to avoid overtime, but they worked hard to pull it off,” said Fox Chapel coach Kellee Cribby.

Fox Chapel won 2-1 over Penn-Trafford on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the WPIAL Class 2A field hockey playoffs. The result ended Penn-Trafford’s streak of eight consecutive WPIAL championships.

“They’re super competitive and we’ve been battling each other all year, so it was fitting that we battled it out in the playoffs as well,” said Cribby. “Obviously, we’re super happy to get the win.”

Fox Chapel and Penn-Trafford had their battles this season. They faced each other three times in the Class 2A regular season and each team took a contest by the score of 2-0. They played to a 0-0 tie in the third match.

“Tonight was a very tough loss for our girls to take,” said Penn-Trafford coach Cindy Dutt. “We’ve lost our last two games against Fox Chapel in the last five minutes and we controlled both games. It’s a hard loss.”

For the majority of the first half, the Warriors had control of the ball and produced more chances but just couldn’t capitalize.

“They didn’t do much, in my view, to slow our attack in the first half,” Dutt said. “I felt we were able to move the ball really well. They clumped up, so we had whatever we wanted.”

Penn-Trafford’s first real chance came four minutes into the second period when they were given a penalty corner.

The ball went in to junior Elizabeth Welsh, who shot a rocket toward the net. The Warriors took a couple more cracks at the ball down low, but were stopped by Foxes goalkeeper Gina Fitzsimmons.

Fox Chapel was whistled for a penalty in the circle and Penn-Trafford was awarded a penalty stroke. Welsh took the shot and fired low to the right and Fitzsimmons made a nice left pad save.

The game remained scoreless until Srodes got off a blast from right in front that was too hot for Vislosky to handle.

“The passing was so good and I got the ball in the center and I tried for a corner,” Srodes said. “It felt so good when the shot went in.”

But Penn-Trafford’s Welsh answered right back with a rising shot that went top shelf right side from 8 yards out.

As the third quarter came to a close, the Warriors had another penalty corner. The ball came in to senior Rilie Moors, who deked two defenders and laid a pass to her left for Welsh, who shot a roller towards the net. Fitzsimmons found it through traffic and kicked it away from harm.

“We had three or four penalty corners and we usually get more in a game, but we just weren’t able to finish them,” said Dutt.

Freshman Brooke Bauer had a chance to give the Wariorrs the lead as she took a spinning shot three minutes into the fourth, but she was shut down by Fitzsimmons, who made a terrific save, this time with her left toe.

“I knew it was going to be a battle, but the girls were really focused,” said Cribby. “Really prepared and I could tell they wanted it. I’m glad we pulled it off.”

The Foxes will face the winner of Thursday night’s contest between top-seeded Peters Township and No. 4 Latrobe in the WPIAL championship game Nov. 2 at Washington & Jefferson.

“Peters is the No. 1 seed on that side and anything can happen in a playoff game,” said Cribby. “But I expect it to be really competitive and there will be a lot of good field hockey on display, and I always tell the girls it won’t be gifted to them; they’ll need to earn it.”

Tags: Fox Chapel, Penn-Trafford