JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Mennonite vs. Fleetwood, Friday, NOON, Hersheypark Stadium
Back in good old Hersheypark Stadium on Tuesday night for PIAA girls’ soccer. It’s always fun going to the stadium. In fact, I asked a colleague last night about how many times a year us media types make the trip to Hersheypark — for football and soccer games in the stadium and basketball games in the Giant Center. Probably in the dozens. Anyhoo … I hope you were able to check out my live blog from the game. I had a fun time updating the events as they happened, and it turned out to be a whale of a game — especially for Mennonite, which scored three sweet second-half goals and beat Wyomissing 4-2. Next stop: PIAA final for the first time in school history, in a rematch against Fleetwood. Here’s my recap from Wednesday’s New Era:
HERSHEY – Lancaster Mennonite’s girls soccer team was stuck in third gear.
Sure, the Blazers were hanging tough against Wyomissing in the PIAA Double-A spring semifinals Tuesday night in Hersheypark Stadium, twice rallying from one-goal deficits to tie the game.
But Mennonite was missing a spark.
That’s when junior forward Katelyn Vanderhoff provided the fire, setting up a pair of second-half goals to lead the Blazers to a 4-2 victory over the Spartans, punching Mennonite’s ticket into Friday’s state championship game.
“Very, very exciting,” Mennonite junior forward Ally Brown said. “We knew we had a pretty good team, but we weren’t sure how good we could really be. Our coaches have always had us focus on the journey, not the destination.”
Mennonite’s next journey will be back to Hersheypark on Friday at high noon to play in the state championship game for the first time in the history of the program.
The Blazers are hoping the final destination is at midfield, hoisting the state-championship gold trophy. Mennonite is seeking to become the first team – in any sport, boys or girls – to win a PIAA championship in school history.
Mennonite (26-3 overall) will meet a familiar foe in the finale – District 3 runner-up Fleetwood, which knocked off District 2 runner-up Holy Redeemer 3-1 in Tuesday’s other state semifinal.
Fleetwood (27-3) topped Mennonite 2-1 on May 20 in a District 3 Double-A semifinal.
“They got us in Districts,” Vanderhoff said. “So we’d love to come back on them in this one.”
Friday’s rematch is for the PIAA spring championship – and the shiny gold medals and banner for the gym that comes with it.
“It’s unbelievable,” Vanderhoff said. “This is what you work for all off-season and all season long. This is awesome.”
Mennonite, the District 3 fourth-place finisher and L-L League champ, was simply awesome in the second half against the Spartans, the District 3 fifth-place finishers.
Trailing 2-1 after Wyo’s Leanne Mould scored her second goal of the game with 35:08 to play, the Blazers erupted, scoring three unanswered goals in a dizzying 14-minute sequence, which saw Mennonite go from down one to up by two – and making plans for a return trip here Friday.
Senior forward Lisa Wingard scored Mennonite’s first goal off a feed from sophomore midfielder Taylor Wenger to knot the score at 1 with 18:31 to go before the break.
But it was after the half when the Blazers started sizzling.
Setting up its offense through Vanderhoff on the outside, Mennonite, the Section 4 champ, knotted the game at 2 when Vanderhoff bent a cross clear across the box to senior midfielder Katie Ruth, who one-timed a goal past Wyo senior keeper Hayley Zinn from the far post with 25:45 to play.
It was a perfect pass – right on Ruth’s right foot.
“That was an amazing pass,” Brown marveled.
Mennonite didn’t stop there, grabbing its first lead, 3-2, when Brown dropped a beautiful pass to junior midfielder Kori Wenger, who one-timed a shot past Zinn from about 18 yards out with 17:11 to go.
Vanderhoff, making Mennonite’s offense go again from the outside, slipped another perfect pass, this one to senior midfielder Bethany Engle, who whistled a shot past Zinn to cap the barrage with 11:05 to play.
“Those goals were all awesome,” Vanderhoff said. “It was fun to be a part of a couple of them.”
This is the second time first-year Mennonite coach Dale Stoltzfus has been part of a team in a state-championship soccer game. In 2005, he guided Warwick’s boys team to the state Triple-A crown.
He can make it two titles – one boys and one girls – if the Blazers can get a little revenge against Fleetwood on Friday.
“It’s awesome,” said Stoltzfus, a Mennonite grad. “But it’s not so much about me as it is these players, and how much fun it’s been watching these girls after we implemented some small changes – and to see what’s happening now.”
What’s happening now is that with a win on Friday, Stoltzfus would complete the rare double-dip – winning a boys state championship with one school, and a girls state championship with another.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Stoltzfus, who took over for Vernon Rice, who retired at the end of last season after leading Mennonite’s girls and boys programs to more than 700 wins in 35 years.
“It’s an amazing thing for this program,” Stoltzfus added. “I can’t say enough about how composed we stayed when we got down 1-0 and 2-1. … The second half was probably the best half we’ve played this season.”
The Blazers picked a perfect time to explode. And now they’ll try and make a little more history on Friday.
