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Bringing the best together: WB Connect Conference to spotlight innovation

Talk about a burst of excitement.As if starting a new program wasn&#8217;t exhilarating enough, the first-year jointure known as the Wilkes-Barre Area Wolfpack is the odds-on favorite to win a District 2 field hockey crown.And with it, a trip to states.&#8220;We&#8217;re really pumped up for the playoffs,&#8221; said senior Jolene Ulichney, the leader of the Wolfpack in scoring. &#8220;We want to win.&#8221;The Wolfpack has a pretty good chance of that.Wilkes-Barre Area, a combination of players from Coughlin, Meyers and GAR High Schools who will eventually come together under one roof when contruction on their new high school is completed in about two years, is the top seed in the four-team Class 3A and has already beaten the rest of that field in the regular season.It all begins when District 2 Class A quarterfinal play begins today, with top-seeded Wyoming Area and three-time defending champ Wyoming Seminary favored meet in the finals, and continues with the Class A semifinals Wednesday and Class 3A and Class 2A semifinals Thursday.&#8220;We have so much talent here,&#8221; said Wilkes-Barre coach Colleen Wood, who has guided Coughlin to multiple District 2 titles and state playoff appearances. &#8220;As long as they play together as a team, I have faith in them.&#8221;Moving out of Class 2A due to the larger enrollment created by the jointure &#8212; and away from three-time defending District 2 champion Wyoming Valley West &#8212; should help Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s title shot. At 9-4-1 overall, the Wolfpack is the only team in the bracket with a winning record.&#8220;We&#8217;re in a good division now,&#8221; Ulichney said.But there&#8217;s also some postseason inexperience. Players from Meyers and GAR weren&#8217;t part of a run that took Coughlin to last year&#8217;s district title game, and a runner-up finish to Valley West.&#8220;Players from some of the other teams (in the jointure), they never went to the playoffs,&#8221; Wood said. &#8220;A lot of them are asking how it&#8217;s done. A lot of our kids haven&#8217;t experienced it (winning a district championship) before.&#8220;It&#8217;s a neat feeling.&#8221;It&#8217;s an even better feeling for the Wolfpack, who had 10 players out of the lineup with injuries at one time or another through the team&#8217;s inaugural season, to know the team&#8217;s much healthier heading into the playoffs.&#8220;We&#8217;re very excited,&#8221; Ulichney said. &#8220;We know we have to work harder than in-season. We need to set the tone right off the bat. We really want to do well this (post)season, being that it&#8217;s the first one and go into it expecting to have a good outcome. I think we&#8217;re all very excited to play.&#8221;Valley West is pretty enthusiastic to keep its string of gold medals going.The Spartans are three-time defending Class 2A district champs and have every reason to believe that&#8217;ll be four in a row by the time states start.Play-making senior Rina Tsioles, hot-shooting Cameryn Forgash and smooth goalie Sydney Rusnock lead a group of Spartans who lost just twice during Wyoming Valley Conference play and carry a 10-3-1 overall record.The Spartans earned the top seed in Class 2A with a strong regular season that included with a dominating victory over hard-charging Holy Redeemer this past week, giving them a four-game winning streak entering the team&#8217;s regular-season finale today. Valley West is also the only team in the four-team Class 2A field with a winning record.Things will be much tougher in the eight-team Class A field, which features both WVC champions and two other teams that just missed winning a league title.Of course, the class of the class starts with three-time defending and returning state champion Wyoming Seminary.Behind league-leading scorer Hannah Maxwell and always-dangerous Alex Wesneski, the two-time defending Class A district champion and returning state gold medalist Blue Knights went unbeaten through a WVC Division 1 regular season that included games against Wilkes-Barre and Valley West. And they have a 29-game home winning streak against District 2 teams at Klassner Field &#8212; where Sem will be through the semifinals Wednesday.&#8220;To three-peat in Division 1, that&#8217;s an accomplishment by our kids,&#8221; Wyoming Seminary coach Karen Klassner said. &#8220;We lost so many top-notch players. Being the first seed, I think, is big.&#8221;Wyoming Area will be No. 2.Wyoming Area went right to the wire with Sem before suffering its first loss of the season to wind up 16-1-1 overall and just behind the Blue Knights in the league standings. And Lauren Parente, Kayla Kiwak and the rest of the hungry, second-seeded Warriors would like nothing better than to avenge a regular season-ending 3-1 loss to Sem in a District 2 title game rematch for a gold medal that went to Sem, 3-2, last season.&#8220;We will see them again,&#8221; Klassner predicted. &#8220;Their program has really developed. They have quality kids, and they&#8217;ve built confidence.&#8221;Then there&#8217;s a couple of confident teams who wound up tying for the WVC Division 2 title and will play each other. Twice on consecutive days.Lackawanna Trail beat Northwest twice, but both wound up with 13-2 records to share first place in the league standings and force a league title game between the two, which will be played at 4 p.m. today at Klassner Field. Then they&#8217;ll play again, with No. 4 Northwest hosting No. 5 Trail in a District quarterfinal that&#8217;s been pushed back a day to 6 p.m. Tuesday at Northwest&#8217;s Lewis and Miller Stadium. Sunday.And with Division 2-leading scorer Sydney Franchella and her 22 goals and Division 2 assist leader Ariana Walker, the Rangers don&#8217;t plan on rolling over against anyone. Neither do Lions stars Belle Coleman and Bella Jagoe, who are dying to recapture the program&#8217;s past district success, so it should be an interesting two days.&#8220;Playoffs, anything can happen,&#8221; Klassner said. &#8220;You have to come to play, definitely, but that doesn&#8217;t guarantee you&#8217;re going to win. There&#8217;s a lot of luck involved.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre Area&#8217;s Jolene Ulichney, center, Abie Sorokas, right, and the rest of the Wolfpack are filled with excitement about the first-year jointure&#8217;s debut in the District 2 Class 3A field hockey playoffs this week. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL092019SEMwbaFH_3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes-Barre Area&#8217;s Jolene Ulichney, center, Abie Sorokas, right, and the rest of the Wolfpack are filled with excitement about the first-year jointure&#8217;s debut in the District 2 Class 3A field hockey playoffs this week. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL091819SEMwvwFH_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Camryn Forgash, left, and Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Ella Barbacci will try to help their teams keep District 2 title streaks alive when the playoffs open with quarterfinal and semifinal rounds this week </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL091819SEMwvwFH_4.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Camryn Forgash, left, and Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Ella Barbacci will try to help their teams keep District 2 title streaks alive when the playoffs open with quarterfinal and semifinal rounds this week </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL090619FieldHockey_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Northwest&#8217;s Sydney Franchella, center, scored 22 regular season goals and intends on helping the Rangers score a couple victories when the District 2 Class A quarterfinals open today. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL090619FieldHockey_1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Northwest&#8217;s Sydney Franchella, center, scored 22 regular season goals and intends on helping the Rangers score a couple victories when the District 2 Class A quarterfinals open today. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL090519WyoArea-WBA-fh_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Area&#8217;s Kayla Kiwak, right, and Wilkes-Barre Area&#8217;s Candladia Washinsky help their teams earn top seeds in this week&#8217;s District 2 field hockey playoffs. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL090519WyoArea-WBA-fh_1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wyoming Area&#8217;s Kayla Kiwak, right, and Wilkes-Barre Area&#8217;s Candladia Washinsky help their teams earn top seeds in this week&#8217;s District 2 field hockey playoffs. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Wilkes-Barre Area, Valley West and Wyoming Sem favored to win districts</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Paul Sokoloskipsokoloski@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>District 2 PlayoffsCLASS AQuarterfinalsMondayNo. 8 Berwick (5-12-1) at No. 1 Wyoming Seminary (16-2), 6:30 p.m. Klassner FieldNo. 7. Nanticoke Area (11-6-1) at No. 2 Wyoming Area (16-1-1), 4:15 p.m. Atlas FieldNo. 6 Holy Redeemer (10-8) at No. 3 Lake-Lehman (12-4-2), 6 p.m. Lake-Lehman HSx &#8212; Lackawanna Trail (1-4) vs. Northwest (14-4), 4 p.m. Klassner Fieldx &#8212; WVC Division 2 championship gameTuesdayNo. 5 Lackawanna Trail (14-4) at No. 4 Northwest (14-4), 6 p.m. Edward and Lewis StadiumSemifinalsWednesdayChampionshipTuesday, Oct. 29at Spartan StadiumCLASS 2ASemifinalsThursdayNo. 4 Dallas (2-12-1) at No. 1 Valley West (10-3-1)No. 3 Wallenpaupack (2-13) at No. 2 Crestwood (7-11)ChampionshipWednesday, Oct. 30at Nesbitt StadiumCLASS 3ASemifinalsThursdayNo. 4 Abington Heights (5-10-1) at No. 1 Wilkes-Barre Area (9-4-1)Ho. 3 Honesdale (7-7-2) at No. 2 Hazleton Area (7-8-2)ChampionshipMonday, Oct. 28 at Nesbitt Stadium</factboxMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre Area, Valley West and Wyoming Sem eye field hockey titles