Baitinger, Martina lift Perkiomen Valley past Methacton, into district championship

EAST COVENTRY >> For a brief moment Tuesday, the Perkiomen Valley field hockey team’s shot at a district title looked very much in doubt.

Very much in doubt to everyone, except for the Perkiomen Valley field hockey team.

Trailing by a goal late in the second half, the Vikings scored twice in a span of 108 seconds on the way to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Methacton during the semifinal round of the District 1 Class 3A playoffs.

“I pointed out to them, the last time we played this team we were down 1-0,” said Perk Valley head coach Erik Enters, recalling a game from September. “And we came back — we scored with 12 minutes left, we scored with 10 minutes left. We scored two goals in two minutes and came back and won.

“Basically it was like, we can go out and score two goals in two minutes and win this. We’ve done it before.”

Shortly after some inspiration from their head coach, the Vikings put his words into practice.

Junior Kelly Baitinger finished a feed from senior Gabby Martina to even it up at 2-2 with 4:34 left in regulation. Then at 2:44, Martina corralled a corner insert from junior Saige Shine — who had scored the game’s lone goal in the first half — and fired a blast into the back of the cage for the game-winner.

Though that game-winning finish didn’t go as planned, it turned out just perfect for the Vikings.

“We called the play and were going to try and work the ball through the middle then try and tip it in,” recalled Martina. “But then as Saige is inserting it, I hear Coach Enters going, ‘Gab! Gab! Take it!’ So I just sweeped and sent it right into the back of net.”

With the win, No. 2 Perk Valley (21-1 overall) earns its first berth in the district championship game since 1988, to be played Saturday evening at Methacton. The Vikings will face No. 4 seed Owen J. Roberts — a 2-0 winner over top-seeded Central Bucks East — in a rematch of this fall’s Pioneer Athletic Conference championship.

Meanwhile, upset specialist Methacton (14-8 overall) will drop into the district’s third place game at Central Bucks East on Friday.

All throughout the afternoon, Methacton was putting on the pressure in front of the Perk Valley cage. The Warriors were finding ways to move the ball into the circle, but were coming away without a clean look at the cage.

Then about midway through the second half, Methacton had its breakthrough.

After Frankie Lucchesi picked off an errant pass, the Warriors set up their offense. A few moments later, Alexa Kratz found Katy Benton planted on the right elbow, just a few steps into the circle. The senior wound up and sent a dart into the back of the cage to even the game at 1-1.

Then about eight minutes later, on the Warriors’ first and only penalty corner try of the game, Liz Chipman found a crease at the top of the circle and scored off Lucchesi’s insert to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead with 10 minutes left.

“It was nice that we were able to take advantage of the few shots that we had,” said Methacton head coach Sarah Quintois. “It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t hold them at the end.”

For the game, Methacton was held to just two shots on goal — both scores — and enabled Perk Valley to hold a 11-1 advantage in penalty corners. That, more than anything else, stuck out to Quintois.

“It was not one of our better games,” she said. “It’s kind of disappointing because we have been playing better. The games that we’ve won, statistically, we’ve done way better than we did today. With corners and shots, we just weren’t creating opportunities.”

Trailing late in regulation for the first time since the PAC championship, Baitinger knew that she and her team needed to get back to what had worked for them all season.

“After they (Methacton) scored that second goal, we had our heads down. We were frustrated and panicking with the ball,” she said. “We just came back out, our intensity increased and we showed that we really wanted it.”

Now the Vikings eye up a revenge game against Owen J. Roberts — the team that handed them their lone loss this fall on the way to a PAC championship. Perk Valley had beaten the Wildcats twice during the regular season, 2-1 in overtime, before the two teams matched up a third time in the PAC’s title bout.

“Hard to beat them a third time, but sometimes it’s the devil you know,” said Enters. “It’ll be a good game. I think we’re the two best teams in the area. We’ve just got to take care of business.”