web1_pens_tigers4_faa.jpg

WBS Penguins forward Dominik Uher ready to add an offensive component to his game

web1_target.jpeg

Two men from Schuylkill County charged with shoplifting at Wilkes-Barre Township Target

The news last week came at Wyoming Valley Conference field hockey teams like a trailing midfielder sneaking from behind a pack of players to score the winning goal.They never saw it coming.But when the PIAA decided last Wednesday to expand some high school sports &#8212; starting with football &#8212; to have more state classification sizes starting in the 2015-16 school year, the sport of field hockey was included in the mix.&#8220;I was shocked,&#8221; said 44-year Wyoming Seminary coach and current athletic director Karen Klassner.That&#8217;s because all indications were field hockey would be left out of the expansion discussion.Klassner said area athletic directors were led to believe the decision would impact high school football, baseball, softball and boys and girls basketball.They all thought field hockey wouldn&#8217;t merit a passing thought during the expansion vote.&#8220;In my mind, I really had never even thought about it before this happened,&#8221; said Lake-Lehman&#8217;s 33-year coach Jean Lipski. &#8220;Is it necessary? In our league, probably not. But I can see how it happened, yes.&#8221;The obvious conclusion is the PIAA wanted to balance the numbers between boys and girls sports. And while football will have six state classifications &#8212; up from the current number of four &#8212; field hockey will move from two classes to three.&#8220;I think they probably felt they had to do it, because of Title IX,&#8221; Lipski said. &#8220;Sort of, &#8216;If we do it with a boys sport, we have to do it with a girls sport.&#8217; &#8221;Now, everyone around the WVC is anxious to find out how the rest of the numbers will play out.Fresh off the vote to expand, the PIAA hasn&#8217;t yet sat down to determine enrollment cutoffs for each class. It also hasn&#8217;t determined which three classes it will use for field hockey.&#8220;Is it going to be A, Double-A and Triple-A or Double-A, Triple-A and Quad-A?&#8221; Klassner wondered. &#8220;Nobody&#8217;s talked about that yet. Where is the cutoff point going to be? I think it&#8217;s great, though. It should increase (the number of) people who play, the teams that play. What it could do is make an amazing Double-A. It&#8217;ll be hard to get through the state tournament.&#8221;It could also increase the number of state championship contenders from a league that&#8217;s already won 13 state titles.&#8220;I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s going to cheapen it at all,&#8221; Lipski said. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s great they&#8217;re going to have new state classes across the board. Now, having two (state playoff representatives from District 2) from Double-A is so great, but they only have one from Triple-A.&#8220;I&#8217;m hoping to get as many representatives (in the state tourney) as possible, because we are such a hotbed (for field hockey), we are such a great conference, we should have (more) representatives in the state field.&#8221;Mainly, though, the WVC teams are hoping this represents a change in the league&#8217;s current divisional setup.When the WVC was divided into four divisions for a two-year period starting in the 2014-15 season, some natural rivalries were lost. Mainly, the yearly showdowns between Sem and Crestwood were taken away.And although current unbeaten teams Crestwood and Lehman can play Class 3A teams like unbeaten Coughlin and Division 1 power Wyoming Valley West, those crossover games between classes don&#8217;t count in the standings any more.&#8220;The coaches have not been happy with the way our conference has been constructed the last couple years,&#8221; Lipski said. &#8220;The good Triple-A teams keep us (Double-A teams) really sharp. Sem doesn&#8217;t play Crestwood and Dallas, we didn&#8217;t play the same amount of games as some of the other divisions. It&#8217;s going to make us look at our conference again and configure a structure that&#8217;s going to be more fair.&#8220;Coaches are hopeful.&#8221;Quite a nightMonday&#8217;s regular season finale will be a big one for Wyoming Area, and not just because the Warriors are moving to the big stage to honor their seniors with a Senior Night game at Wyoming Area&#8217;s football stadium.The game will have special meaning to Wyoming Area senior Grace Gober and freshman Abigail Gober, who suffered a terrible loss when their mother, Anne Gober, passed away in July.The Wyoming Area Field Hockey Parents Association, in conjunction with the Wyoming Area Kiwanis Club, is donating all proceeds from that 6:30 p.m. battle with Abington Heights to the Gober Children Educational Fund. Proceeds from the food stand and a Chinese auction will be donated to the fund, and T-shirts will be available for purchase at the game.To order one beforehand, contact Leandra Hosey at mebus14@verizon.com or to make a donation, contact Hosey or Tiffany Callaio at tcallaio@outlook.com.The game is also important to the Warriors in the standings. Sparked by the league&#8217;s leading scorer, Bree Bednarski and her 40 goals, Wyoming Area will be looking to lock down the No. 3 seed in the upcoming District 2 Class 2A playoffs.At 10-2, the Warriors are battling Wyoming Seminary and Lackawanna Trail &#8212; both 8-2 before their showdown at Trail on Wednesday &#8212; for the No. 3 playoff seed heading into the final week of the regular season.The clincherThe Coughlin Crusaders didn&#8217;t just raise awareness for breast cancer with their Pink Game on Tuesday, they raised the flag on a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 title with a stirring 4-0 victory over Pittston Area.The Crusaders kept their perfect regular season intact, running their record to 10-0 with two games to play and making their regular season finale with rival Wyoming Valley West on Tuesday pretty meaningless.Fittingly, Coughlin&#8217;s Boston College-bound standout Brigid Wood scored two goals in the Pink Game to spark the division-clinching victory.Her mom, Coughlin coach Colleen Wood, spent last season in agony while courageously coaching the Crusaders all throughout her battle with breast cancer.Coughlin stumbled near the end of last year, wound up tied at the top of Division 1 and was forced to play the Spartans again to earn the 2014 WVC title.No playoff needed this time.Patriots&#8217; pushHeading into the final few games of league play, Pittston Area is angling for a rematch with Coughlin in districts, as the Patriots are currently trying to hold onto the fourth and final spot in the Class 3A field.It won&#8217;t be easy.They&#8217;ll meet Delaware Valley at 4 p.m. in Yatesville Thursday in a showdown that will likely decide which team will advance to the four-team District 2 Class 2A postseason. But that&#8217;s not a sure thing.Pittston Area, which received a big boost by tying Wyoming Valley West 2-2 last Thursday, sits at 3-4-2 in league play and would even its record with a victory today. But the Patriots wrap up their regular season with games at Hazleton Area and at home with Honesdale, which has been playing teams tough lately.At 3-6, Delaware Valley could leap the Patriots with a victory today, but the Warriors end their season at Valley West, currently the No. 2 team in Division 1, on Thursday.In other words, this race for the final Class 3A district seed won&#8217;t be over until it&#8217;s over.Battle of unbeatensThe game everyone has been waiting for all year will finally happen Monday, when 8-0 Crestwood visits 10-0 Lake-Lehman in what could be a preview of the District 2 Class 2A &#8212; and possibly state &#8212; championship game.While both teams have plenty of scoring punch, both rely on their dominant defenses to punish opponents.Crestwood goalie Marlee Dillon has faced just nine shots this season and saved eight of them. Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Alicia Galasso has allowed just four goals, making 26 stops against 30 shots. They&#8217;re both among the best goalies in the Wyoming Valley Conference, but neither has seen enough action around the cage to qualify among the league&#8217;s top 10 in save percentage.With all the talent on both sides of the scorer&#8217;s table, that could change in a hurry come Monday.&#8220;Both teams have some great kids, that&#8217;s for sure &#8212; kids going out to (Division 1) colleges,&#8221; Lipski said. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s going to be a beautiful game. It&#8217;s going to be an interesting one, that&#8217;s for sure.&#8221;<style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL090914Klassner11.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary field hockey coach and athletic director Karen Klassner (left) and assistant coach Kim Barbacci hope the PIAA&#8217;s expansion of classifications last week force the WVC to re-evaluate its current format for league divisions. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL090914Klassner11.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Seminary field hockey coach and athletic director Karen Klassner (left) and assistant coach Kim Barbacci hope the PIAA&#8217;s expansion of classifications last week force the WVC to re-evaluate its current format for league divisions. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger file photo | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL111614CrestwoodFH_101.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood head coach Patsy Moratori (at right in zebra coat and red hat) and her Comets have won two of the last four PIAA Class 2A state titles, but could be moving to another level next season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL111614CrestwoodFH_101.jpg</photo1><caption1>Crestwood head coach Patsy Moratori (at right in zebra coat and red hat) and her Comets have won two of the last four PIAA Class 2A state titles, but could be moving to another level next season. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Paul Sokoloskipsokoloski@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</shirttailMeta></div>

Field hockey: More questions than answers as PIAA expansion hits WVC fields