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Donegal and Penn Manor storm into L-L finals


MILLERSVILLE - For the Donegal Lady Indians, the time to get hyped was Tuesday evening.

For the many fans of high school field hockey, the time to REALLY get hyped is around, say, 7 o'clock on Thursday.

After a pair of well-played shutout victories in Tuesday's L-L League semifinals, overall unbeatens Donegal and Penn Manor are set to collide in Thursday's league final at Conestoga Valley high school.

"We have a lot of work to do if we want to beat (Donegal), that's for sure," said Penn Manor head coach Matt Soto following the Lady Comets' 2-0 victory over Conestoga Valley in the nightcap of the doubleheader at Penn Manor's Comet Field.

"They have a heck of an attack," Soto added. "Got to give them a lot of credit, they're really, really good."

Soto and his players spent much of the opening contest watching the Lady Indians (20-0), champions of section three, dominate section one runner-up Hempfield (14-6) with a 7-0 victory in which Donegal outshot Hempfield 23-6 and more than doubled-up the Lady Knights' in corner opportunities.

Yet all of the Lady Indians' goals came from the field, five of them unassisted, including two by senior forward Kayla Walker.

"Oh yea, we definitely came to play today. We knew after Saturday we didn't play well (despite a 4-0 quarterfinal win over Lampeter-Strasburg)," Walker said. "My mom was talking to me last night, she was like you need to hype the team up. We needed to start getting more hyped and we knew that coming in."

Donegal subsequently burst through the gates with Gabby Hess's goal six minutes in on a feed from Lily Saunders. Four minutes later, a one-timer from junior back Rachel Robinson from inside the elbow soared past Hempfield goalkeeper Hollyn Barr (14 saves) for a 2-0 Indians' lead.

Walker scored around Barr with five minutes to spare in the first half. Then, after a Saunders' goal nine minutes into the second, Walker took a midfield pass and ran past a cadre of Knights' defenders, moving to Barr's left before somehow depositing over the goal line for a 5-0 advantage.

"I don't know, I was just kind of dribbling and I didn't want to go over the end line," Walker said of the push just inside the goal, "It was really weird though because it didn't hit the backboard, so I was like confused. It was super weird."

What isn't super weird - or at least, not all that surprising - is the upcoming matchup with Penn Manor (19-0), the possibility of which played in the minds of fans, coaches, and players alike even as goals by Amanda Beck and Mackenzie Allessie finished off the Lady Knights.

"We're excited. We haven't had the opportunity to play for a league championship for a long time," said Donegal head coach Jess Shellenberger, whose team took the title in 2008 before losing to the Comets in 2009. "Just the opportunity is exciting. Any time you're one of the last two teams around, it's a really good feeling."

Meanwhile, the section one champion Comets put themselves in position for a four-peat come Thursday, having controlled many of the scoring chances versus Conestoga Valley (13-7) and yet being flummoxed by a stout Buckskins' corner defense.

Conestoga Valley, the third-place team from section one and a 5-0 loser to the Comets earlier in the week, trailed 1-0 Tuesday on Alyssa Schriver's text-book tip-in from Emma DeBerdine, before equalizing possession late in the first half.

"They made some good adjustments, didn't they?" Soto offered. "They threw the ball over our head a hundred times, it worked really well for them. It really put a damper on our attack."

The Comets would score early in the second half, however, on DeBerdine's finish off a Hannah Brown assist to set the final margin and propel Penn Manor towards a matchup worth every bit of hype.

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L-L Field Hockey Semis

Game 1 Box Score

Donegal 7, Hempfield 0

HM 0 0 - 0

DN 3 4 - 7

Hempfield Scoring: NA

Hempfield Assists: NA

Donegal Scoring: K. Walker 2 (1st, 24:14, 2nd, 11:39), G. Hess (1st, 5:47), R. Robinson (1st, 9:55), L. Saunders (2nd, 8:35), A. Beck (22:39), M. Allessie (2nd, 28:49)

Donegal Assists: K. Walker, L. Saunders

Corners-Shots: HM 7-6, DN 15-23

Saves: HM H. Barr 14, J. Sears def. save 2; DN K. Jean 6

Game 2 Box Score

Penn Manor 2, Conestoga Valley 0

PM 1 1 - 2

CV 0 0 - 0

Penn Manor Scoring: A. Schriver (1st, 12:16), E. DeBerdine (2nd, 2:39)

Penn Manor Assists: E. DeBerdine, H. Brown

Conestoga Valley Scoring: NA

Conestoga Valley Assists: NA

Corners-Shots: PM 15-15; CV 0-5

Saves: PM A. Schaeffer 5; CV C. Spotts 12, T. Dillman def. save 1