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The ball dribbled a few inches away from her opponent, and in an instant, it was on the stick of Bree Bednarski.She glided through Northwest&#8217;s defense while taking the ball all the way down to the other end of the field and into the circle, feathering a pass to herself between two converging defenders along the way before firing off one of her rocket shots.It did not go in the net, and didn&#8217;t have to.Because by that point, Bednarski had already made another very difficult play in the sport of field hockey seem as natural as brushing her hair.&#8220;People are looking at her,&#8221; said Wyoming Area coach Chris Comiskey, meaning the teams Bednarski is playing against.But they&#8217;re not the only ones who keep a close eye on Bednarski, because No. 16 for the Warriors has become must-see TV.She has already scored over 30 goals overall for the Warriors, 26 of those coming during Wyoming Area&#8217;s eight games in the Wyoming Valley Conference.&#8220;I really never thought I&#8217;d be able to score that much,&#8221; Bednarski said. &#8220;I love helping my teammates score, too.&#8220;Everyone helps everyone on this team.&#8221;Having Bednarski helps Wyoming Area the most.She is not just a goal scorer, but so much more.In the opening minutes of a 5-2 victory over Northwest this week, Bednarski rifled a hard centering pass that Jillian Spak dumped into the net for the first goal of the game.That may be the best part about Bednarski&#8217;s special senior season.She might take more pride in helping her teammates find success as she does when she finds her own.&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t really matter to me, to score,&#8221; Bednarski said. &#8220;As long as we get the win.&#8221;She has been a winner all the way through at Wyoming Area, a star for all seasons.With Bednarski leading the way, the Wyoming Area girls track and field team won a WVC Division 2 title the last two years and she led one of the school&#8217;s 2015 relay teams all the way to states. At the same time, she was one of the main cogs in a Warriors softball lineup that rolled to the District 2 Class 2A semifinals in the spring.Now Bednarski has Wyoming Area&#8217;s field hockey team coming off a surprise district playoff appearance last year chasing Lake-Lehman for a league title in Division 3. And believing it can be a force in this year&#8217;s districts, even in a Class 2A field that features powerful Crestwood, Lehman and Wyoming Seminary squads.You better believe the Warriors were right in the game with Crestwood, at least through the first half, mainly because Bednarski gave them hope they can beat anyone &#8212; even as she was being double-teamed by a Comets team ranked as the No. 1 Class 2A team in the state.It turns out Bednarski was the only WVC player to score a goal on Crestwood&#8217;s airtight defense, at least through the first seven games of the regular season.&#8220;With Bree, she has a really good intensity,&#8221; Spak said. &#8220;When she gets it in the circle, that intensity, it makes her unstoppable.&#8221;It seems to make everyone around her better. It&#8217;s a big part of the reason why Bednarski will be playing for Michigan on a field hockey scholarship next season.&#8220;If they&#8217;re looking to shut her down,&#8221; Comiskey said of opposing defenders, &#8220;she&#8217;s got to facilitate other people. I think she&#8217;s done a great job with that.&#8221;More times than not, Bednarski has to fight through two or three defenders to score her goals. It doesn&#8217;t hurt that she has one of the hardest shots in the conference.And it didn&#8217;t happen by accident.&#8220;It&#8217;s just practice,&#8221; Comiskey said. &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing like dumping a whole bucket of balls out and just hitting them. I see her all the time in the baseball net, with her father, with other kids, just driving the ball in practice.&#8221;She is not practicing her softball swing right now in those batting cages, either.&#8220;I shoot a lot,&#8221; Bednarski said. &#8220;I come up to practice by myself, with my dad (Joe) and just work on it. I feel like I have good stick work and I can really help out with the passing.&#8221;The strength of her game is no passing fancy.Whether she is all by herself or on a field full of defenders, it&#8217;s almost impossible to stop Bednarski from hitting a ball into a net.No room for errorWhile suffering a tough 2-1 loss to Lake-Lehman last week didn&#8217;t damage Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s chances for a Division 4 title in the WVC, it did leave the Blue Knights feeling a little edgy about making districts.That&#8217;s because only eight teams make the District 2 Class 2A field, and the No. 8 seed will most certainly face a Crestwood team that&#8217;s currently unbeaten and hasn&#8217;t come within seven goals of losing a game all season.&#8220;We are really put in a situation right now where we really have to win,&#8221; said Blue Knights coach Karen Klassner, whose Sem team is 4-1 in league play, a half-game ahead of Lackawanna Trail in Division 4 and owns the league&#8217;s third-best record among Class 2A teams. &#8220;We&#8217;re playing some good teams to get us ready for the end of the year. But you have to win games before you get to the end of the season.&#8220;Unfortunately, with the way the league setup is, one or two losses and you&#8217;re pretty much out of it. And a lot of us don&#8217;t want to go up against Crestwood right away in the playoffs.&#8221;Here we go againThe best race in the WVC is shaping up for a major showdown in Division 1, where 6-0 Coughlin holds the edge over 5-1 Hazleton Area. That loss by the Cougars came at the hands of Coughlin, and the two will meet in a rematch at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Coughlin&#8217;s field.In a similar scenario, Coughlin spent most of last season as a front-runner before suffering a late-season loss to Valley West that ultimately forced a regular-season tie at the top of Division 1. Although Coughlin won the 2014 division title in a playoff, the late-season victory gave the Spartans enough belief to beat Coughlin for the District 2 Class 3A title.With eight starters returning from that heartbreaking finish, the Crusaders are determined not to let the same thing happen a second time around.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Area&#8217;s Bree Bednarski (left) leads the WVC with 26 goals in divisional play and has already topped 30 overall this season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_TTL092215FhcrestWA21.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Area&#8217;s Bree Bednarski (left) leads the WVC with 26 goals in divisional play and has already topped 30 overall this season. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Paul Sokoloskipsokoloski@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>WVC STANDINGS(Wednesday&#8217;s games not included)Division 1Team`W`L`T`GBCoughlin`6`0`0`-Hazleton Area`4`1`0`1.5Wyoming Valley West`4`2`0`2Pittston Area`2`3`1`4Delaware Valley`2`4`0`4Honesdale`1`5`0`5Wallenpaupack`0`4`1`5Division 2Team`W`L`T`GBCrestwood`5`0`0`-Abington Heights`4`2`0`1.5Dallas`2`1`0`2Tunkhannock`1`3`0`3.5Berwick`0`4`0`4.5Division 3Team`W`L`T`GBLake-Lehman`6`0`0`-Wyoming Area`6`2`0`1Holy Redeemer`3`3`0`3GAR`3`5`0`4Nanticoke Area`2`5`0`3.5Hanover Area`1`5`0`5Division 4Team`W`L`T`GBWyoming Seminary`4`1`0`-Lackawanna Trail`3`1`0`0.5Meyers`2`3`0`2Northwest`1`2`0`2Elk Lake`0`6`0`4.5ResultsTuesday&#8217;s GamesWyoming Valley West 3, Delaware Valley 1Pittston Area 3, Honesdale 2Monday&#8217;s GamesWy0ming Area 5, Northwest 2Wyoming Seminary 2, Nanticoke Area 0Crestwood 14, Berwick 1Holy Redeemer 11, Elk Lake 0Meyers 6, GAR 0Lackawanna Trail 8, Hanover Area 2Dallas 6, Abington Heights 0</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</shirttailMeta></div>

WVC field hockey: Scoring’s become a breeze for Bednarski