State College Field Hockey Wins Its First Home Game Against Mifflin County

On September 6th at Memorial Field, the State College field hockey team defeated Mifflin County, upholding its victorious reputation against Mifflin County.  This high-intensity game ended with a close score of 4-3.

Every year, the two teams face off against one another to determine the winner from the District 6 pool, and once again State College prevailed.

Starting at 5 p.m., JV kicked off the night with a fierce game. 

Before the game, freshman Sam Sidwell explained that the most important thing for the team when competing is, “I’d say uniting as a team and communicating because if you are not communicating you won’t get the ball up the field and you won’t complete plays.” 

By communicating, Edna Wafula and Delaney Shaha brought positive energy that would keep their teammates’ spirits high. 

State College’s Addie Gagnon and Ally Duncan both led the team to earn 4 attacking corners, 3 of which were in the 4th quarter.  Although the two teams tied at 0-0, fans saw fantastic play from State College.

Following the JV game, varsity brought an equally as intense game to the night. 

At 6:30 senior captain Molly Shreiner described her first thoughts before the game, “We were definitely nervous because they are our rivals, but I think we were more excited to play.” 

This was clear when both teams brought immense amounts of energy, scoring 7 goals in total and 4 within the last quarter. 

Within the first quarter of the game team captain, Hannah Garlin put the first point onto the board. However, Hailee Sheetz from Mifflin County evened up the score in the second quarter with a lucky breakaway shot. Nonetheless, 3 minutes later, State College’s Joelle Bartlett swept the ball past the goalie to Carly Erickson who put the ball away. 

As both teams persisted with powerful defense and amazing saves, neither State College nor Mifflin County earned goals in the third quarter. 

In the last quarter, things heated between the teams. Within the first 3 minutes, Mifflin County’s Adria Hartler passed to Lyza Underhill, who then scored. To fight back, through an aggressive play Victoria Castano earned State College yet another goal. Then with 3 minutes left to go, Monica Druckemiller scored the goal that would tie the game up to 3-3.

Although feeling a little discouraged, senior Madi Gaul described her train of thought in these types of moments, “My teammates were so persistent on attacking, and they just had that aggressive mindset, I was like ok I am working with them, we’re going to get this ball up, we are going to score this goal, and we are going to win this game before the time runs out,” Gaul explained. 

She summed it up by saying, “It is very easy to get discouraged for your mistakes but once you just figure out how to switch that off and to realize that ‘ok, move on, we are on to the next game’ that really helps.”

Now, with the pressure on, State College had to think fast. Senior Maddy Shomo attacked Mifflin County in the circle, which would earn State College a penalty corner. With just seconds remaining in the game, State College’s Quinn Colburn shot the ball that would soar into the backboard and win State College’s first game.