No. 3 Boyertown, No. 4 Spring-Ford advance to PAC field hockey championship

RED HILL >> There will be a new Pioneer Athletic Conference field hockey champion after Boyertown and Spring-Ford both came from behind for 3-2 wins in Tuesday night’s playoff semifinals at Upper Perkiomen High School.

The No. 3 seed Bears trailed three-time defending PAC champion and No. 2 seed Upper Perkiomen 1-0 and 2-1 in the first quarter, but tied the score in the third and knocked in the game-winner in the fourth at Tribe Stadium. No. 4 seed Spring-Ford fell behind 2-0 after top seed Methacton scored twice in the first three minutes of the second half, but won it on a goal with 12 seconds to go at Keeny Stadium.

The championship match will be played Thursday at 7 p.m. at Keeny Stadium.

“We realized what was at stake and came out harder in the second half,” said Boyertown senior attack Katelyn Dulin, who scored the first two goals for the Bears and took a straight-on shot on a corner play that was deflected in by Alaina Charlesworth with 8:51 remaining.

Upper Perk beat Boyertown 3-1 in last year’s championship match, but the Bears handed the Frontier Division champion Indians (12-7 overall) a 3-2 loss late last month.

“Give credit to Upper Perk,” Boyertown coach Alicia Terrizzi said. “They came out super hard. And they have some really fast forwards. Thursday and moving forward, we need to play a complete game.”

The Liberty Division runner-up Bears (15-3-1 overall) tied it three minutes into the second half and continued on the attack after taking the lead. Dulin eventually dribbled away the final seconds in the corner in her own end. Goalkeeper Sarah Yoder helped the Bear cause with nine saves.

Terrizzi and Dulin both thought the playoff experience gained last year – the first for the Bears since 2008 – has helped this season.

“An incredible amount,” Dulin said. “We’re used to the bright lights now.”

Upper Perkiomen coach Jamie Warren thought the match was a tale of two halves.

“I think we came out and played really strong in the first half,” Warren said. ”Boyertown had us on our heels in the second half. In the third and fourth quarters we had too many defensive corners and they were the tipping point.”

Upper Perkiomen’s season will continue in the District 1-2A playoffs, where they are currently ranked fifth.

“We’ll revamp and regroup,” Warren said. “The girls executed their game plan.”

Spring-Ford (11-8 overall), the second wild card, had lost to Methacton (16-3 overall) 4-0 and 3-0 during the regular season and fell behind on Tuesday when Avery Schwartz (assisted by Carmela Maro) and Ceci Rehak (assisted by Elena Weychert) scored in the first three minutes of the third quarter.

But the Rams relied on their experience in close games to mount a comeback.

“We called a time out after the second goal,” Spring-Ford coach Jennie Anderson said. “We just reminded them that we are capable of coming back. We’ve done it before.”

Julia Corropolese got the Rams on the board before the end of the third quarter. Then Nina Scott scored less than two minutes into the fourth and Aubrey Grossman scored the game-winner with an assist from Scott. Kathryne McCreary made 12 saves for the Rams.

“We’ve learned a lot from the the last few years,” Anderson said. “We’ve lost a lot of close games and lost some early this year. They just played the way we knew they could play.”

Spring-Ford and Methacton each had 10 corners and Warriors goalkeepers Emily Drake and Natalie Drake combined for nine saves.

“I believe we played a great game,” Methacton coach Amanda Parrezzi said. “They capitalized on a couple of our mistakes. There was a lull when we were not taking care of the ball.”

The Warriors will now prepare for the District 1-3A playoffs where they are currently ranked fifth.

“Tomorrow we start our new mindset,” Parrezzi said. “Because after tonight, we’ve got more to prove. We’re a good team. We’ve worked hard all year. We want to prove we are as good as we know we are.”

Boyertown 3, Upper Perkiomen 2
Boyertown 1 0 1 1 -3
Upper Perkiomen 2 0 0 0 – 2
Scoring
First quarter
UP
BT-Katelyn Dulin
UP
Third quarter
BT-Katelyn Dulin
Fourth quarter
BT-Alaina Charlesworth (Katelyn Dulin)
Saves: Boyertown 9 (Sarah Yoder)

Spring-Ford 3, Methacton 2
Spring-Ford 0 0 1 2 – 3
Methacton 0 0 2 0 – 2
Scoring
Third quarter
MT-Avery Schwartz (Carmela Maro)
MT-Ceci Rehak (Elena Weychert)
SF-Julia Corropolese
Fourth quarter
SF-Nina Scott
SF-Nina Scott
Corners: MT 10, SF 10
Saves: MT 9 (Emily Drake 4, Natalie Drake 5). SF 12 (Kathryne McCreary)