C.B. South falls in field hockey

SHILLINGTON, Pa. - Don't try telling the Central Bucks South field hockey team that lightning can't strike twice in the same place.

Hershey senior Leslie Smith scored with less than three minutes gone in overtime today to give the Trojans their second win in two seasons over the Titans in the semifinals of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs at Gov. Mifflin High. Last year at Mifflin, the Trojans won, 4-1. Today, the final score was 2-1.

The Michigan-bound Smith scored off an offensive penalty corner, with the ball going into the upper left corner of the cage, out of the reach of South goalie Liz Lewallen.

"It was almost like slow motion," said disappointed South junior Maddy Harding, describing the winning goal. "I don't know where the corner came from. It was called on me, but I don't know why."

The victory, the Trojans' 20th in 26 games this season, lifted them into the Class AAA championship game Saturday at 2 p.m. at Whitehall. They will play Lower Dauphin, which beat Parkland, 3-1, in the other semifinal. It will be an all-District 3 title game.

Hershey was the third-place team in District 3; Lower Dauphin was fourth.

The Titans, who finished their season 19-4-1, saw a 10-game winning streak end. They had beaten Hempfield and Cocalico to reach the semifinals.

They took the lead against Hershey on a goal by senior Sarah Hughes with just under six minutes to play in the first half. The goal came off a penalty corner. The two teams each had three offensive penalty corners in the first half.

Sophomore Rachel Claroni knotted the score for the Trojans with a goal at 12 minutes, 59 seconds of the second half. It was the first shot of the game for Hershey, which had three penalty corners within a one-minute stretch beginning at the 6:33 mark but could not cash in.

"We started a little slow," said Hershey coach Tami Scola. "We were flat in the first half. We picked up a little momentum at the end of the first half."

Scola noted that the Trojans were coming off an emotional 1-0 win over District 11 champion Emmaus in the quarterfinals.

"That was such a big win for us," she said. "We knew South would come to play. Fortunately, we had a very good scouting report on them."

First-year South head coach Christina Ford said she urged her team to be more aggressive in the second half.

"We needed to score another goal," she said. "One goal was not going to be enough. "It's tough to realize that we're not going to have another practice or game this season."

Hershey   0 1 1 - 2

Central Bucks South   1 0 0 - 1

Goals: H-Rachel Claroni, Leslie Smith. CBS-Sarah Hughes.

Saves: H-Sonya Torres 3. CBS-Liz Lewallen 4.