Upper Perkiomen defeats Boyertown for rare PAC field hockey 3-peat

RED HILL >> A school whose class size should make it David has turned into the Goliath of the Pioneer Athletic Conference.

Two years removed from playing the underdog role against perennial power Owen J. Roberts in a PAC title game, Upper Perkiomen stepped onto the field in another championship contest Thursday night as the clear-cut favorite.

The Indians showed why the roles have reversed.

Upper Perk defeated Boyertown 3-1 to claim the 2021 PAC championship, giving the Indians a third straight league championship for the first time in program history.

“Two years ago we were on the other end of it,” senior Kylene Gooch said. “We were the underdogs, and no one expected us to come out on top. This year, I feel like the pressure was on a little bit more because we had higher expectations, but we pulled through and worked hard.”

With Thursday’s three-peat, Upper Perk joined an exclusive club. Only Owen J. Roberts (2009-11) and Phoenixville (1990-92) can claim the same accomplishment in the PAC’s 35 seasons of field hockey.

“Our confidence has grown a lot over the years,” senior Takoda Wells said. “We’ve stepped up to these bigger programs who have always held the championship and now we’re here for the third time in a row.”

Wells and Gooch both scored goals in Thursday’s title win along with Jade Traynor. Jess Traynor, Julia Traynor and Abby Rodenberger tallied assists, while goalkeeper Lynnsi Joyce was once again sensational in a PAC postseason setting.

Sarah Yoder played well in goal, and Lauren Eves scored off an assist from Katelyn Dulin for Boyertown, which came in hoping to claim its first league title since 2002 after years spent near the bottom of the league standings.

“It was super exciting. You can tell by some of the things that we did that we haven’t been here and they have,” said Boyertown coach Alicia Terrizzi, who also noted the Indians’ home crowd, including a sizable student section factored into the game.

“It definitely helped that half the team has already played in this game or games very similar to this,” Gooch said.

Upper Perk struck early with a goal by Jade Traynor off assists from sisters Jess and Julia. The Indians’ lead grew to 2-0 with 11 minutes left in the first half when Gooch scored off an assist from Rodenberger.

The Bears got on the board with three minutes left in the third quarter after Eves tipped in a ball by Dulin to make it 2-1, but less than two minutes into the fourth Wells sent home a rebound that gave the Indians a two-goal cushion the rest of the game.

“Our forwards, especially our freshmen Jade and Julia played a huge role,” Upper Perk senior Luci Carpenter said. “Throughout the entire season, it was great to have them and finally have that good offensive pressure.”

The biggest two plays of the game may have come in the second quarter when Joyce made two incredible saves.

On the first one, Dulin found Remi Lloyd open in front of the cage like she did in the semifinal win over Methacton.

It appeared Lloyd had a wide open net and was poised to put the Bears on the board and cut her team’s deficit to 2-1 in the middle of the second quarter. Instead Joyce dove from the other side of the cage to make the stop.

“We were ready for it,” Joyce said of the Dulin to Lloyd play. “We practiced it last night.”

A few moments later Joyce made a sliding kick save on a breakaway look from the Bears, spoiling another one of their best chances in the game.

“Their goalie had two really nice saves that saved the game,” Terrizzi said. “We thought that goal was in, she saved it. Another one, she saved it. She saved their life tonight.”

Gooch, Wells, Carpenter and Joyce are four-year starters for the Indians and key pieces for each of the last three championship games.

They’re a special group as highlighted by the three straight league championships they have now been a part of.

“They’ve really brought the team together this year with the leadership,” Upper Perk coach Jamie Warren said. “They make up the game plan. They have taken ownership of the team, which is what makes them a strong team. I can give them more. … It’s nice to have a group that you can really feel like there’s a good bond of trust and you know their work ethic, and you know their desire is not selfish. It’s for the team.”

Upper Perk’s senior quartet said the consistency with this group is how tight the team is both on and off the field, which leads to unselfishness and chemistry being among Upper Perk’s top characteristics year in and year out.

They’re not just teammates, but friends — a trait shaped by playing a sport at a smaller school.

“Even when we were little, there were only 20 kids in the youth league and it was these 20 girls,” Joyce said.

“We’ve all been playing together since elementary school, so I feel like we’ve had this chemistry for a very long time,” Gooch said. “It’s given us a big advantage.”

The emphasis on togetherness began during the Indians’ first title run in 2019 when a large senior class highlighted by former Mercury All-Area Player of the Year AiYi Young (UConn) instilled those values on their younger teammates. Young texted the Indians before Thursday’s game.

“We’ve really grown together as a team, so just keeping the chemistry,” Joyce said of the formula for UP’s continued success. “Our sophomore year, our seniors really pushed having good connections off the field, so that’s something that we took with us our senior year, which helped bring us here.”

Terrizzi hopes this Boyertown senior class — led by multi-year starters Eves, Lloyd, Alyx Morgan and Jasmine Fink — can leave a similar lasting impression on her program.

“I am super proud, especially of the senior class, for being leaders and accepting all of the change that has happened,” Terrizzi said. “No one likes change, and our girls have really been supportive of the coaches, of each other, of their younger teammates, and they have really grown as players themselves.

“This class is going to set a whole new trajectory of Boyertown field hockey moving forward, and I’m really happy with that.”

Both teams hope their postseasons are just getting started with the District 1 tournaments starting next week.

Ranked No. 9 in the District 1-3A power rankings, there is a good chance the Bears host a district playoff game for the first time in a long time.

“Our girls made some mistakes tonight and you could see that we were not experienced being on this stage, but our season is not over, and we’re going to continue to get better and better each game,” Terrizzi said.

Upper Perk, which will take a 16-game win streak into the District 1-2A tournament, was ranked No. 2 in the power rankings on Thursday night.

The Indians reached the district championship game in 2019 and followed with a semifinal trip in 2020.

“We’re a very high district seed, so we’re hoping to play some lower level teams, work our way up, keep the home field advantage and go into the district championship. We did it two years before and this year feels a lot like our sophomore year where we made a really good push.”