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Top targer KJ Hamler exits early with injury in Penn State’s win over Indiana

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<p>SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP. &#8212; Long after Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s final practice of the season had ended, Cameryn Forgash was still there at Spartan Stadium.</p><p>It was just her and her stick, a few field hockey balls and a couple coaches, as the standout sniper for the Spartans kept taking aim at the cage.</p><p>Two days later and less than two hours away, she hit the mark.</p><p>Forgash scored the winning goal with 8:55 to play Saturday and Wyoming Valley West won the second state title in school history by coming back for a 2-1 victory over Palmyra in the PIAA Class 2A championship at Whitehall High School&#8217;s Zephyr Sports Complex.</p><p>&#8220;This feels amazing,&#8221; Forgash said. &#8220;Just an amazing feeling.&#8221;</p><p>Then again, it was a pretty amazing team.</p><p>Valley West won the school&#8217;s first state gold medal since 2003 by avenging two of their most heartbreaking losses. The Spartans defeated a Villa Maria team that beat them for the 2017 state championship, then got back at a Palmyra team that ended their season in the PIAA semifinals last year.</p><p>&#8220;This is the greatest feeling I&#8217;ve ever felt,&#8221; said Spartans star playmaker Rina Tsioles, who has been part of Valley West&#8217;s four consecutive District 2 Class 2A championship teams but added &#8220;this is two times better.</p><p>&#8220;This is just next-level amazing.&#8221;</p><p>Before she takes her game to the next level at Old Dominion next year, Tsioles had one more dazzling high school play to dream up for the Spartans.</p><p>The 4-foot-11 midfielder, the smallest player on the field, scooted in front of a Palmyra player and stole the ball away in a tie game with little more than nine minutes left.</p><p>She charged down the right sideline and fed Forgash, who fought through a scrum of defenders to take the pass and put the winner into the cage.</p><p>&#8220;I saw two defenders, I just took it right,&#8221; Forgash said. &#8220;Cameryn was running in right in front of the circle. Cameryn being really fast, I knew she would be there. I had a nice, open pass to her to hit it right in.&#8221;</p><p>Hitting has never been a problem for Forgash, Valley West&#8217;s leading goal scorer with more than 20 this season.</p><p>Just to be sure, though, she decided to do some extra work.</p><p>&#8220;She scored the first goal in our last game,&#8221; Valley West coach Linda Fithian said. &#8220;She stayed after practice the other day, practicing her shot for this moment.&#8221;</p><p>It paid off in gold.</p><p>&#8220;I was probably there for a half-hour,&#8221; Forgash said of Thursday&#8217;s last workout before the state title game. &#8220;I do it sometimes, working on having confidence at the end. I was just envisioning us winning.</p><p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t matter who scored.&#8221;</p><p>That seemed to be the attitude of the whole Valley West team.</p><p>The Spartans rallied from a 1-0 deficit when Ari Rupnik was credited with a goal she wasn&#8217;t even sure she scored with 21:49 on the second-half clock.</p><p>&#8220;I tried to score, I saw the goal open,&#8221; Rupnik said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if I hit the ball all the way to the goal. I think Paige (Williams) or another player touched it, maybe she put it in.&#8221;</p><p>Finally, though, she shouted with glee.</p><p>&#8220;Who cares? We won!&#8221;</p><p>The win took a lot of grit.</p><p>The teams went scoreless through the first half, and not long into the second, an old nemesis struck again.</p><p>Palmyra&#8217;s two-year captain Lauren Wadas &#8212; whose mother is the former Daniele Pawlush, a two-time all-conference field hockey player at Nanticoke Area &#8212; struck against the Spartans again.</p><p>After scoring a goal with two assists in last year&#8217;s 3-1 PIAA semifinal win over Valley West, Wadas rocketed a laser into the cage for the game&#8217;s first goal with 4:30 gone in the second half.</p><p>&#8220;We all knew we had to keep our composure,&#8221; Tsioles said.</p><p>Valley West immediately called a timeout and charged back onto the field inspired even more.</p><p>&#8220;The whole season,&#8221; Forgash said, &#8220;our motto has been &#8216;Never give up.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>The goal by Rupnik helped.</p><p>Less than four minutes after Palmyra took the lead, Valley West snatched momentum right back when Rupnik hit a goal to tie the game at 1-1, giving her at least one goal in all six of the Spartans&#8217; postseason games.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s hard to score and then to win the game when you&#8217;re one goal behind,&#8221; Rupnik said. &#8220;Mostly, you&#8217;re down whenever they score first. I&#8217;ve never had a feeling like we had when we scored that one goal.&#8221;</p><p>A little later, Tsioles set up Forgash for number two.</p><p>And Valley West had a second state title to celebrate.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s incredible,&#8221; Rupnik said. &#8220;I can&#8217;t describe it in words. It&#8217;s beautiful, pretty, exciting. To win the second state championship for the school, I feel blessed.&#8221;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>PIAA CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIP</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Valley West 2, Palmyra 1</strong></p><p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Valley West`0`2 &#8212; 2 </strong></p><p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Palmyra`0`1 &#8212; 1</strong></p><p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Second half &#8212; </strong>1. PAL, Lauren Wadas, 25:30; 2. WVW, Ari Rupnik, 21:49; 3. WVW, Cameryn Forgash (Rina Tsioles), 8:55.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Shots &#8212;</strong>WVW 2; PAL 3. <strong>Saves &#8212; </strong>WVW 2 (Sydney Rusnock); PAL 0 (Katie Knol). <strong>Corners &#8212; </strong>WVW 5; PAL 6. </p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West players celebrate the tying goal against with Palmyra in the PIAA Class 2A field hockey championship Saturday at Whitehall High School. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal3_faa-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Valley West players celebrate the tying goal against with Palmyra in the PIAA Class 2A field hockey championship Saturday at Whitehall High School. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal4_faa-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West players celebrate the winning goal by Cameron Forgash in the PIAA Class 2A championship against Palmyra on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal4_faa-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wyoming Valley West players celebrate the winning goal by Cameron Forgash in the PIAA Class 2A championship against Palmyra on Saturday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal1_faa-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West celebrates a 2-1 Class 2A state championship victory over Palmyra on Saturday in South Whitehall Twp. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal1_faa-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Wyoming Valley West celebrates a 2-1 Class 2A state championship victory over Palmyra on Saturday in South Whitehall Twp. </caption2><photoCredit2>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal5_faa-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West forward Paige Williams looks at Palmyra goalie Katie Knol as the ball goes in for the second and winning goal for the Spartans in the second half of play at the Zephyr Sports Complex on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal5_faa-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wyoming Valley West forward Paige Williams looks at Palmyra goalie Katie Knol as the ball goes in for the second and winning goal for the Spartans in the second half of play at the Zephyr Sports Complex on Saturday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal6_faa-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Rina Tsioles goes to the turf fighting for the ball with a Palmyra player in the first half of play in the PIAA Class 2A championship Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal6_faa-1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Rina Tsioles goes to the turf fighting for the ball with a Palmyra player in the first half of play in the PIAA Class 2A championship Saturday. </caption4><photoCredit4>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal7_faa-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Palmyra forward Maddie Hudson moves the ball between Wyoming Valley West forwards Ari Rupnik and Cameryn Forgash during the Class 2A state championship game Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal7_faa-1.jpg</photo5><caption5>Palmyra forward Maddie Hudson moves the ball between Wyoming Valley West forwards Ari Rupnik and Cameryn Forgash during the Class 2A state championship game Saturday. </caption5><photoCredit5>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Forgash goal gives Valley West second state field hockey title