Our very own Dave Byrne was in Berks County (my home base) on Tuesday for Lancaster Mennonite’s semifinal showdown against postseason rival Oley Valley. The Blazers, fresh off winning the L-L League title last week, kept on keeping on, downing the Lynx (great nickname, eh?) in OT to advance to the district finals. Here’s Dave’s story from Wednesday’s New Era:

EXETER — After getting hit on the foot by a ball, Juliana Hershey missed most of the first half of Lancaster Mennonite’s District 3 Class Double-A field hockey tournament semifinal game against Oley Valley on Tuesday night.

But in the end, she put a hurt on the Lynx, sweeping the game-winning goal into the cage at the end of — and beyond — the first sudden death overtime period as the Blazers edged Oley Valley 1-0 in Exeter’s Don Thomas Stadium.

Hershey’s game-winner sends the L-L League champion Blazers (23-3 overall) into Saturday’s district Double-A championship game in Hersheypark Stadium opposite Palmyra. Game time is 1:30 p.m.

Palmyra, winner of four of the last six district Double-A titles, defeated Northern 4-0 in Tuesday’s other semifinal.
For much of the past 17 years, the Mennonite-Oley Valley rivalry has been one of the hottest in District 3 Double-A.

In nine meetings — almost all one-goal games — the Lynx (18-4-3) have won seven times, including a 4-0 quarterfinal verdict in 2005 and a victory in last year’s fifth-place consolation match.

The most painful, and most controversial, Oley Valley victory was in the 2000 PIAA Double-A championship game, when Oley Valley took advantage of a series of untimed penalty corner opportunities before cashing one in and pulling out a 2-1 win.

In a sweet turnabout, Mennonite returned the favor Tuesday night. The ninth-seeded Blazers got seven consecutive corners, six after time had expired, to put away the fifth-seeded Lynx.

(When a game ends on a penalty corner, play continues until a goal is scored; the defense clears the ball from the circle; or the offense commits a foul. If the defense commits a foul, another corner is awarded.)

“It’s to your advantage because time’s run out and you’re the ones with the ball,” Hershey said, basking in the glow of victory.

As time ran under a minute to play in OT, Mennonite made a rush into Oley Valley’s circle. During the play, a foul was detected and Hershey stood over the ball at the endline to execute an insertion pass.

Time expired, but Mennonite did not, and on the seventh corner Hershey inserted, Katelyn Vanderhoff fired a shot.
It was Mennonite’s third shot of the series — Vanderhoff’s second — and when the Lynx defense tried to clear the rebound of Hartman’s save, Jackie Gyger kept the ball alive and sent it across the circle to Hershey, camped at the post to the keeper’s right.

Hershey put her second shot of the series between the post and Hartman, and the Blazers had won a game where they had been long out-played.

“Seven corners in a row,” marveled Blazers’ coach Karen Gyger. “I’ve never seen that before. “With the time being out, that’s always scary (for) a coach when that happens.”

“We just tried to stay calm at the end,” said Jackie Gyger, the coach’s daughter. “We finished. We executed what we had to.”

For most of the evening Mennonite had few chances to execute.

Oley Valley played almost all the first half in Mennonite’s end of the field with four shots on goal and two corners.

A defensive save by Gina Burkholder, sweeping an Oley Valley shot off the line with under 10 minutes to play in the half, kept the game scoreless at the break.

Meanwhile, Mennonite didn’t get its first corner until the early seconds of the second half and didn’t have a shot on goal until midway through the half.

Oley Valley would own the statistical advantage through regulation: 7-2 in shots, 5-3 in corners.

“Oley Valley did a good job of taking away (our) strength, which is up the middle,” Coach Gyger said. “They had us on our heels.”

But the game was shifting Mennonite’s way as it developed into more of an up-and-down affair.

Blazers’ keeper Sarah Dickinson ensured OT with a tough save on Brittany Krall with under four minutes to play.

Once overtime began, with the teams playing seven-on-seven, Mennonite appeared to have the advantage. The overtime tabulation read: shots, 4-0 Mennonite; corners 7-0 LMH.

“I knew, once we got into overtime, we’d get some of those bodies off the field” Coach Gyger said. “And, in the end, we came back hard.”

As did Hershey, who shook off any lingering discomfort, transferring the pain to the Lynx.