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MotorWorld Toyota donates to Wyoming Valley Habitat for Humanity

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D2 girls soccer: Wyoming Area prevails in overtime thriller in 2A semifinals

<p>WRIGHT TWP. &#8212; The winning play wasn&#8217;t supposed to start so choppy, so unnerving, so unpredictably difficult, just like most of the night for the Wyoming Seminary Blue Knights.</p><p>Somehow, though, Kelsey Reznick made it look smooth.</p><p>Reznick not only controlled a bouncy insert on a penalty corner, she slammed it into the back of the cage with 8:30 remaining Tuesday to give Sem to a 3-2 victory over gallant Wyoming Area and the Blue Knights their second straight District 2 Class A title at Crestwood High School.</p><p>&#8220;It was awesome to be able to score on a corner,&#8221; Reznick said. &#8220;We had a lot of those. We wanted that final step to put it in.&#8221;</p><p>Now, the Blue Knights are back on top of the district again, after avenging their only blemish during league or postseason play. Sem and Wyoming Area played to a 0-0 tie on the final day of the Wyoming Valley Conference season and both will advance to the PIAA playoffs Tuesday. If they meet again, it&#8217;ll be in the state finals.</p><p>The Blue Knights will open PIAA play against the No. 4 team from District 3, while Wyoming Area makes its state debut against the District 4 champion Mifflinburg.</p><p>The first-ever District 2 championship game for the upstart Warriors was going just fine, as the team&#8217;s were locked in a 2-2 tie until the final minutes.</p><p>That&#8217;s when Sem drew a corner, and Reznick turned a difficult play into sheer delight for Sem.</p><p>&#8220;We messed up on that corner,&#8221; Sem forward Alex Wesneski said. &#8220;The ball came out bouncy, that happens. Nothing in field hockey is perfect. Kelsey stayed with it and was able to get that shot off. Amazing. She just collected herself. It was a beautiful shot.</p><p>&#8220;We were so excited as a team.&#8221;</p><p>Reznick&#8217;s shot ended the district excitement for Wyoming Area, which showed spunk and stubbornness while playing a historical first district title game.</p><p>&#8220;Honestly, Wyoming Area played a very, very good game,&#8221; Wesneski said. &#8220;When we scored, they were there to come right back. They played a great game today for never having been here before. They didn&#8217;t give up. They&#8217;re known for that.&#8221;</p><p>Indeed, the Warriors twice fought back from one-goal deficits.</p><p>Julia Christian ripped a wide-angled shot into the cage less than three minutes in as Sem quickly gained the upper hand and broke a scoreless deadlock of 77 minutes, 52 seconds over two games between the teams.</p><p>But Wyoming Area roared back when Kayla Kiwak scored with a tick over 20 minutes remaining in the opening half.</p><p>The Warriors weren&#8217;t going away.</p><p>To make that clear, Kiwak fought Sem&#8217;s star midfielder Aubrey Mytych to a stalemate for a full minute before Kiwak pried away the ball in a battle for control that typically doesn&#8217;t last more than 10 seconds or so in field hockey.</p><p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t underestimate Wyoming Area at all,&#8221; Reznick said. &#8220;We knew they&#8217;d come in ready to play us. I just think we held our own. They hadn&#8217;t been in a district final yet. We won it last year, and I remember what it was like. Sem had experienced it and Wyoming Area hadn&#8217;t.&#8221;</p><p>That experience only took the Blue Knights so far.</p><p>Moments after Kiwak&#8217;s inspirational play to win possession, Sem regained the ball and Wesneski rifled a bullet into the cage to give the Blue Knights a 2-1 lead 75 seconds from halftime.</p><p>&#8220;We work on that in practice,&#8221; Wesneski said about being in a tight battle, &#8220;so when we do get in that spot, we are able to push through a score those goals.&#8221;</p><p>The Warriors weren&#8217;t done scoring either, though.</p><p>They gained a lot of life, and momentum, when Toni Minichello converted a penalty corner into another tying goal, evening the score again at 2-2 with 16:09 to play.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think they had a lot of pressure on them,&#8221; Sem coach Karen Klassner said of the Warriors. &#8220;The pressure was on us to repeat.&#8221;</p><p>A former scorer-turned-defender made sure they did.</p><p>Reznick, who played a prominent offensive role in the Blue Knights&#8217; run to the state silver medal last season, switched to middle back this season to help Sem stymie scoring threats by opponents. The few chances she&#8217;s had to score this year have come on corners.</p><p>And she took full advantage of Sem&#8217;s biggest one in the district tournament.</p><p>&#8220;My teammates set me up for that shot,&#8221; Reznick said. &#8220;I just knew I pulled it into the corner. It&#8217;s just a great lead-up to our state run. We are so set and so ready to get back to the state quarterfinals and back to the state championship game.&#8221;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 2 Class A Championship</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Wyoming Sem 3, Wyoming Area 2</strong></p><p><strong>Wyoming Area`1`1 &#8212; 2</strong></p><p><strong>Wyoming Sem`2`1 &#8212; 3</strong></p><p><strong>First half &#8212;</strong> 1. SEM, Julia Christian, 27:08; 2. WA, Kayla Kiwak (Lauren Parente), 20:01; 3. SEM, Alex Wesneski, 1:15. <strong>Second half &#8212;</strong> 4. WA, Toni Minichello (Keri Melberger), 16:09; 5. SEM, Kelsey Reznick, 8:30.</p><p><strong>Shots &#8212;</strong> WA 12; SEM 9. <strong>Saves &#8212;</strong> WA 6 (Ellie Glatz); SEM 10 (Mia Magnotta). <strong>Penalty corners &#8212;</strong> SEM 11; WA 2.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Alex Wesneski, second from right, gets mobbed by teammates after scoring against Wyoming Area in the District 2 Class A field hockey championship in Wright Township on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL103118FHWA-Sem_2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Alex Wesneski, second from right, gets mobbed by teammates after scoring against Wyoming Area in the District 2 Class A field hockey championship in Wright Township on Tuesday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL103118FHWA-Sem_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Aubrey Mytych, center, winds up for a shot in front of the cage against Wyoming Area in the District 2 Class A field hockey championship in Wright Township on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL103118FHWA-Sem_3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Aubrey Mytych, center, winds up for a shot in front of the cage against Wyoming Area in the District 2 Class A field hockey championship in Wright Township on Tuesday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL103118FHWA-Sem_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary players mob Kelsey Reznick (22) after she scored the game-winning goal against Wyoming Area with 8:30 remaining in the District 2 Class A field hockey championship in Wright Township on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL103118FHWA-Sem_1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Wyoming Seminary players mob Kelsey Reznick (22) after she scored the game-winning goal against Wyoming Area with 8:30 remaining in the District 2 Class A field hockey championship in Wright Township on Tuesday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Duke-bound Sem star scores winning goal to give Sem district title</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>

D2 field hockey: Reznick’s late goal lifts Wyoming Seminary to Class A championship