TOWAMENCIN — The Faith Christian Lions had lost to rival Dock Mennonite Academy twice during the regular season. In the District 1-A field hockey semifinals, they were determined not to let it happen again.
“We just knew we wanted to beat this team, and we knew we wanted to go to the district championship,” Lions forward Daniella Burns said.
After an evenly matched, scoreless first half, the teams exchanged goals late in the third quarter and then Burns — amid a scrum in front of the Dock net with 1 minute left in the period — slipped a shot between the goalkeeper’s legs to lift No. 3 Faith Christian over the second-seeded Pioneers on the road Thursday night to advance to the 1-A title game.
With the victory, Faith Christian (15-4) also clinched a spot in the District 1/12 subregional, which takes the top two teams from the two districts. Both the winner and runner-up at the Class-A subregional will go to states.
“We were pressuring and pressuring, we got a shot and we got so many rebounds, and I just quickly hit it in,” Burns said of her goal. “It was all a blur.
“We really switched the momentum in the second half and played our game, played a really fast game,” she said. “We just really wanted it.”
Dock goalie Madison Afanador was kept busy all night and came up with an incredible 12 saves on 14 tries by Faith Christian.
The Pioneers (14-5) generated nine shots and three corners, while the Lions (14-4) had seven corners.
Faith Christian goalkeeper Rylie Hetherington also was spectacular in rejecting 7 shots.
“This was a great game,” Dock coach Michelle Waldspurger said. “We played hard. Our girls really went out and played with a lot of heart and soul. We hit the post a couple times on offense, so it could have changed the outcome of the game. Sometimes luck’s just not on your side.
“We just kind of let up there in the third quarter, and they took advantage of that,” Waldspurger said. “We played excellent. I can’t complain about how we played. It was a great game to watch. Even though we lost, it was a great game.
“It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row.”
During the season, Dock edged the Lions 4-3 in overtime on Sept. 13, and beat them again 4-2 on Oct. 11.
“They beat us twice, and it was tough, especially the second game that we played them,” Faith Christian coach Jayne Longacre said. “We weren’t in sync. But this is the time, anybody can win. We told the girls, ‘We believe in you. You are ready to do this.’ And it was so awesome to watch them rise to the occasion and do it. We’re just so proud of them.”
The Pioneers briefly took the lead when Eden Schrag found home with 6:09 remaining in the third quarter. But Cheyenne Greene answered for Faith Christian with a field goal of her own 3 minutes later.
“We were hitting the ball and passing well in the second half,” Longacre said. “And our receptions were on. So, not only were we passing, we were able to receive that pass. It was just a world of difference for us to keep possession.
“We had to settle in a little bit,” she said. “Once we settled in and started playing our game, that was it. We just kind of found that inner grit and inner determination, and that prevailed.”
As disappointing as the defeat was for Dock, the program remains in a good place.
“We’re young, we have a ton of kids returning, so it’s very exciting how well we did this season,” Waldspurger said. “We have a lot of positives for next year.”
For Faith Christian, the win was a sigh of relief.
“It feels awesome to beat them after they beat us twice,” Burns said. “And it feels even better to do it when it counts most.”
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Email Christiaan DeFranco at cdefranco@thereporteronline.com. Follow him on X at @the_defranc, or visit ChrisDeFranco.com.
