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H.S. BOYS SOCCERTrio of WVC teams hoping to break streak

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Redeemer’s Kijek makes it look simple

<p>The call came near the tail end of the District 2 title game, and it nearly sent Coughlin&#8217;s lineup scrambling.</p><p>There may be more of those abrupt changes to come in the state field hockey playoffs.</p><p>When Coughlin, Crestwood and Lake-Lehman open the PIAA postseason tournament Tuesday, they&#8217;ll be facing plenty of unknown obstacles - from opposing players to officials.</p><p>&#8220;I think the thing about playing out of the area is getting used to different officiating,&#8221; Crestwood coach Patsy Moratori said. &#8220;Officials are going to call the game a little differently. You have to realize it and play through it.&#8221;</p><p>Her unbeaten Comets will face Manheim Central at 7 p.m. in a Class 2A opener at Nesbitt Field, just after Coughlin takes on Central Bucks West in a Class 3A game at the same site. Lake-Lehman, the No. 2 seed from District 2, will play District 11 champ Moravian Academy at 4 p.m. at Whitehall High School.</p><p>And most likely, all three Wyoming Valley Conference teams will have some adjusting to do during games called by unfamiliar offifcials from other districts.</p><p>&#8220;Officials are different,&#8221; said veteran Lake-Lehman coach Jean Lipski. &#8220;Different officials from different areas certainly do call differently. We&#8217;ve experienced that over and over. The kids <em>have </em>to play to the whistle. Often, they get used to sort of stopping when they know they&#8217;ve commited a foul. But officials from other areas let them play.</p><p>&#8220;So you have to play to the whistle, hope some calls go your way and that the officiating will be fair.&#8221;</p><p>Coughlin didn&#8217;t feel it received an even shake in the District 2 title game, when a late card forced the Crusaders to play the final seven minutes a player short. Hazleton Area scored its only goal of the game during that time, and a resilient Coughlin defense staved off three late penalty corners to protect a 2-1 victory.</p><p>&#8220;When you&#8217;re a player down, it&#8217;s tough,&#8221; Coughlin coach Colleen Wood said. &#8220;We moved Kyra (Wozniak) from up top to down low, and she hasn&#8217;t been playing there. It&#8217;s tough to adjust.&#8221;</p><p>But the situation provided the Crusaders with some practice at adapting, which could become critical in the state playoffs.</p><p>Coughlin, which went 14-0 through WVC and District 2 play, meets a Central Bucks West team that won its first 18 games behind Monmouth-bound goalie Brianna DeAngelis while rolling to the Suburban One Continental League title but enters states on two-game losing streak. The Bucks dropped a 3-0 decision to Downingtown East in the District 3 semifinals and lost the third-place game 5-1 to Conestoga to finish as the No. 4 team from District 3.</p><p>And things don&#8217;t promise to get much easier for Central Bucks West against Coughlin, which boasts eight shutouts this season and hasn&#8217;t allowed more than one goal in any of its eight other games.</p><p>&#8220;Our defensive players, they&#8217;ve been very solid,&#8221; said Wood, whose team will enter the Class 3A state playoffs as the District 2 champion for the third time in four years. &#8220;Every position, everybody&#8217;s doing a great job this year. Their senior year, I can&#8217;t say enough about them.&#8221;</p><p>Crestwood can&#8217;t complain, either.</p><p>The Comets, who played in the last four Class 2A state championship games and won two of them, are ranked as the top team in the state field and may just be peaking for the prime time of their unbeaten season. They lashed Lake-Lehman, 9-1 while dominating last week&#8217;s District 2 championship game.</p><p>&#8220;&#8221;There have been some games this year where we&#8217;ve done some good things,&#8221; Moratori said. &#8221; There have been a few games where we&#8217;ve done a lot of good things. We&#8217;ve had some wins where the kids didn&#8217;t play their best. The last game, I think we just put it all together. They were cutting off the ball, passing the ball, moving off the ball. We&#8217;re hoping to continue that through the state playoffs.&#8221;</p><p>Crestwood might need a similar effort against 19-4 Manheim Central, which started 16-1 before ending the season with back-to-back 1-0 losses. But Manheim Central recovered in time to win the District 3 fifth-place game behind Duke commit Jillian Wolgemuth - a member of the USA U17 national team who scored two goals in a 3-0 victory over Oley Valley to lead her team into states.</p><p>&#8220;I did go down to see them this weekend, they have a very good center-mid,&#8221; Moratori said of Wolgemuth. &#8220;She was the difference-maker.&#8221;</p><p>Lake-Lehman&#8217;s hoping state experience makes the biggest difference in its playoff opener.</p><p>The Black Knights return to Whitehall - the site of their state-opening victory of a year ago - to face a 21-1 Moravia Academy team that won its first District 11 title in 20 years.</p><p>&#8220;I think it definitely helps when you&#8217;ve been in the state playoffs before,&#8221; said Lipski, whose 16-2 team suffered its only two losses of the season at the hands of Crestwood. &#8220;We hadn&#8217;t been in for a few years, and to make it last year was a big step. We were in the same stadium last year. We&#8217;re playing the number one team in District 11, just like last year. So they have a good familiarity about it. We&#8217;ve been there, seen it, played at the stadium and won there. It definitely helps.&#8221;</p><p>The Black Knights will get some help with the return of Lynea Gregory, who missed the District title game with an ankle sprain.</p><p>And they&#8217;ll need all the help they can get to slow down Moravian Academy&#8217;s No. 9 Mayv Clune - who scored all three goals in a 3-0 District 11 title victory.</p><p>&#8220;Our outside defenders have to play tough and have to know where the cherry pickers are,&#8221; Lipski said. &#8220;We have to close down number 9.&#8221;</p><p>The Black Knights also have to score, and that could be difficult against a Moravian Academy team that has shut out 15 of its 22 opponents - including the last four in the postseason.</p><p>But those are just some of the unknowns teams from the WVC will have to be ready for at the start of states.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s tough,&#8221; Wood said. &#8220;You may know like one or two players. (But) you&#8217;re looking at teams you&#8217;ve never played. At his stage of the game, every team is good. It&#8217;s just about focusing on doing things the right way and playing our game.</p><p>&#8220;Just staying with what we did to get us here.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Area athletes in the state field hockey playoffs such as Crestwood&#8217;s Lizzy Dessoye (17) and Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Taylor Alba (8) will have to beware of unfamiliar players - and officiating - when the PIAA tournament opens Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_fh-pre.jpg</photo0><caption0>Area athletes in the state field hockey playoffs such as Crestwood&#8217;s Lizzy Dessoye (17) and Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Taylor Alba (8) will have to beware of unfamiliar players - and officiating - when the PIAA tournament opens Tuesday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Noticeable differences in state play may be in store for area teams</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

State field hockey playoffs may feature styles that are different than what WVC teams are accustomed to facing