Suffocating defense powers Peters Township to WPIAL Class 2A field hockey title

By: Ted Sarneso
Saturday, November 2, 2024 | 2:47 PM

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Peters Township’s defense learned its lesson from the last time the Indians played Fox Chapel.

On Oct. 7, the Foxes squeaked out a 1-0 win off a breakaway goal.

“They had one or two breakaways, and they executed them well,” Indians senior forward Serafina Forlini said.

Peters Township was determined to not let that happen again as its defense stifled and frustrated the Fox Chapel attack en route to a 3-0 win in the WPIAL Class 2A field hockey championship Saturday at Cameron Stadium on the Washington & Jefferson campus.

“The girls came into this game ready to go,” Peters Township coach Kelly Meenan said. “They were hustling to the ball and were all over the 50/50 balls. They came out aggressive and laid it all out there on the field, and, as a coach, that’s all you can ask for.”

For Peters Township (16-3), the victory comes one year after losing in the Class 3A championship game. Meenan does not want the move down to Class 2A to be the reason her team became champions. She said her players’ performance spoke for itself.

“It doesn’t matter what classification you play in. You have to work hard, and the girls put in the time and work,” Meenan said. “We had a great group of senior leaders this year, and they made it happen.”

Forlini had a couple of opportunities in the early first quarter, but Foxes goalkeeper Gina Fitzsimmons stood tall.

Peters Township’s pressure was too much, however, and Forlini opened the scoring on the first of a dozen penalty corners for the Indians.

Senior Anna Kokoszyznski took the corner pass and fired at the net. Forlini jumped on the rebound and buried the ball past Fitzsimmons.

“We’ve been practicing corners like crazy because the last time we faced Fox Chapel, we had several corners and couldn’t get a shot off,” Forlini said. “I knew this week at practice that I had to lock in, get my head in and practice my tipping and glad to see it pay off in the game.”

It looked as though Peters Township had a goal on a second penalty corner, but Kokoszyznski’s shot from the inbounds pass was deemed to high for the distance she shot the ball, and the goal was nullified.

For the first quarter and change, Fox Chapel (10-7) could get the ball only 5 yards into Indians’ territory and had only one penalty corner on which to try and capitalize.

“It was obvious we definitely struggled to get any momentum going on the offensive end,” Foxes coach Kellee Cribby said. “I wish we were able to capitalize more on the opportunities we did have. It just wasn’t our game.”

Fox Chapel was able to hold Peters to just the one goal in the first half, but the Indians found a soft spot in the Foxes defense and pounced.

Two minutes into the third quarter, Forlini flew down the left side of Fox Chapel’s defense and fired a shot toward the net that senior forward Bella Updyke tipped in to give the Indians a 2-0 lead.

Peters threatened again with eight minutes to go in the third, when, off another penalty corner, Kokoszyznski threw a spinning shot attempt that was deflected again, but Fitzsimmons dove across the line and was able to keep the ball out of the goal as Peters continued to try and stuff it in.

With four minutes left in the third quarter, Kokoszyznski finally got a goal. She gathered in a loose ball off a penalty corner and again spun around and fired. The ball weaved its way through sticks and legs into the goal.

Fox Chapel ended its season just short of its goal of a WPIAL title, but Cribby was proud of the accomplishments her team made along the way.

“I’m really proud of the season as a whole,” Cribby said. “Our No. 1 goal was to win the championship, and it’s tough not to get the win, but we did accomplish a lot of smaller goals and were able to pick those off on our way to the title game.”

Peters Township prepares for the PIAA playoffs, and the Indians are confident their style of play will translate to more wins.

“We just have to make sure we do the little things correctly,” Meenan said. “It’s about coming together and working as a group. As long as we get back defensively and get our sticks down, work hard, play as a team and have fun, we’ll keep winning.”

Tags: Fox Chapel, Peters Township