Cedar Crest, Annville-Cleona bow out in first round of districts

The Cedar Crest field hockey team's season is over, but it took a top seed and reigning co-state champ to do it.

One of the Falcons' most successful campaigns in the last decade-plus came to an end on Thursday night in a 5-0 loss to mighty Penn Manor in a District Three Class AAA quarterfinal at Warwick.

Fresh off a very impressive 5-0 preliminary-round defeat of Red Lion on Saturday, Cedar Crest was simply no match for the Comets, who tallied all of five of their goals prior to intermission to quickly turn the contest into a rout.

Gabby Bitts led the way with a hat trick as the Comets (20-1) advanced to Saturday's 3 p.m. quarterfinal at Manheim Township against Elizabethtown.

"We were riding a six-game win streak into this, our team started to come together towards the second half of the season when we needed to, to get into districts, and to get this far," said Cedar Crest coach Dana Risser. "This was only the second time in ten or twelve years that we've gotten to this game in districts so it was a good season overall for these kids. The senior class has been nothing but outstanding; freshman on up. They've got a lot of experience and the whole class in general has a lot of varsity experience. They've been awesome kids to coach and we're going to miss them."

Also on Thursday night:

DONEGAL 8, ANNVILLE-CLEONA 1 >> In Mount Joy, A-C ended its season in similar fashion to Cedar Crest's, falling to second-seeded juggernaut Donegal due in large part to a six-goal first half.

A-C, which ends its season at 13-7, saw its only score come on an own goal in the second half, when a Morgan Zimmerman cross was knocked in by a Donegal defender.

Donegal, now 22-0 and bound for Saturday's quarterfinal round against Oley Valley, got two goals apiece from Kayla Walker, Rachel Robinson and Rachel Overlander.

Penn Manor 5, Cedar Crest 0

Cedar Crest00—0Penn Manor50—5

First half — PM: G. Bitts 3, M. Warfel, E. DeBerdine,

Second half — None

Assists — PM: E. DeBerdine 2, A. Schriver, E. Robb

Shots on goal — Penn Manor 12, Cedar Crest 1;

Corners — Penn Manor 13, Cedar Crest 3;

Saves — CC: Kelsey Bell (7 saves), PM: A. Schaefer (1 save)

Donegal 8, Annville-Cleona 1

Annville-Cleona01—1Donegal62—8

First half — D: K. Walker 2, R. Robinson 2, M. Allessie, G. Hess

Second half — AC: own goal, D: R. Overlander 2

Assists — D: M. Allessie 2, G. Miller 2, R. Robinson, A. Kohler.

Shots on goal — Donegal 18, Annville-Cleona 4;

Corners — Donegal 19, Annville-Cleona 1;

Saves — AC: Haley Zimmerman (9 saves), C. Connelly (1 save), D: Katie Jean (3 saves)