Perseverance pays off in state gold for WVC field hockey teams

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<p>It didn&#8217;t take a game-tying goal, a spectacular steal or a winning shot for Linda Fithian to know there was something quite extraordinary about her Wyoming Valley West field hockey team.</p><p>It didn&#8217;t necessarily take a state championship to convince her.</p><p>Because long before the veteran coach watched with pride as the Spartans accomplished all of that Saturday to secure a PIAA gold medal and a special legacy in school history, she heard about it.</p><p>&#8220;From our pep rally,&#8221; Fithian said pointing to the team&#8217;s Friday night sendoff to the state title game. &#8220;Every teacher came up to me and said what a good group of girls this is. They&#8217;re very humble. I was getting text messages. They&#8217;re just kind, uplifting, positive humans. And there&#8217;s not one player out there who isn&#8217;t like that.</p><p>&#8220;You had this feeling we were going to win.&#8221;</p><p>That feeling came to fruition when Rina Tsioles stole the ball and delivered a pin-point pass to teammate Cameryn Forgash &#8212; who delivered the winning goal with 8:55 to play as Valley West completed a stirring comeback with a 2-1 victory over Palmyra in the PIAA class 2A title game.</p><p>But this team will be remembered as much for its dignity and dedication as it will for its dramatic finish.</p><p>Ari Rupnik&#8217;s an ideal example.</p><p>A transfer student from Germany, Rupnik wasn&#8217;t with the Spartans in past years and won&#8217;t be with them after the end of this school year.</p><p>Yet, bringing the second state title in school history and first since 2013 for Valley West meant as much to her as any one of her teammates who grew up playing in the Spartans&#8217; program. Maybe more.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just exciting to win the second championship title for the school,&#8221; Rupnik said. &#8220;It was very emotional.&#8221;</p><p>It was Rupnik who was credited with the tying goal in the second half, giving her at least one goal in all six of Valley West&#8217;s district and state games, yet she was hesitant to accept the credit. Although she sent her shot from the circle, Rupnik wasn&#8217;t completely certain it wasn&#8217;t tipped in by a teammate.</p><p>&#8220;It may have rolled all the way across the line,&#8221; Rupnik said. &#8220;It may have been touched by someone else. Who cares? We won.&#8221;</p><p>The Spartans won their title because nobody seemed to crave being a star, giving up glory in favor of a group effort.</p><p>It&#8217;s called teamwork.</p><p>And it showed tried and true success on the final goal, when Tsioles took the ball from Palmyra and flew down the field &#8212; onluy to give up the scoring chance to Forgash.</p><p>&#8220;I intercepted it pretty high,&#8221; Tsioles said. &#8220;At first, there really wasn&#8217;t anyone up ahead to pass it to. I decided to take it to the right myself. Cameryn was running in right in front of the goalie.&#8221;</p><p>That didn&#8217;t just happen by dumb luck.</p><p>&#8220;I knew Rina was going to shoot it,&#8221; Forgash said. &#8220;We always practice being on top of the goal, trying to hit the ball in the cage.&#8221;</p><p>One way or another, Valley West made it all work.</p><p>Maybe because they worked so hard at becoming one.</p><p>&#8220;To win with a special team like this,&#8221; Fithian said, &#8220;is a coach&#8217;s dream.&#8221; </p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West forwards Ari Rupnik (back) and Cameryn Forgash (No. 5) double up on Palmyra forward Maddie Hudson during the PIAA Class 2A championship game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal7_faa-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Valley West forwards Ari Rupnik (back) and Cameryn Forgash (No. 5) double up on Palmyra forward Maddie Hudson during the PIAA Class 2A championship game. </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-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West players bonded through unselfish teamwork and wound up celebrating the school&#8217;s second-ever state field hockey championship with a 2-1 victory over Palmyra in Saturday&#8217;s PIAA Class 2A state title game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_wvw_pal4_faa-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wyoming Valley West players bonded through unselfish teamwork and wound up celebrating the school&#8217;s second-ever state field hockey championship with a 2-1 victory over Palmyra in Saturday&#8217;s PIAA Class 2A state title game. </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Something special was going on with Valley West’s field hockey title team