It was a rainy and cold day for field hockey on the campus of Cumberland Valley, but plenty of field hockey was underway as the 3rd annual Cumberland Valley Field Hockey Tournament was in session, giving 4 teams the opportunity to get some more out of division action late in the season. 3 teams in the tournament were from the Mid Penn Conference, being Mechanicsburg, the defending 2A state champions, Cumberland Valley, 3A’s current 2 seed, and undefeated West Perry. The lone out-of-town team was Hazleton, who faced up with Cumberland Valley on the historic Chapman field.
Up the road at Eagle View Stadium, it was a matchup between West Perry, the undefeated power who’s now put up 97 points on the season and Mechanicsburg, who was making their first trip back to Cumberland Valley since their run to Chapman field, where they defeated Palmyra to win the 2A state championship.
West Perry Can Compete
The Mustangs have put together an incredible regular season, only allowing a total of 5 goals in the cage on the season, but they haven’t seen a big school power like Cumberland Valley until now. They’ll face Lower Dauphin, another 3A giant on Monday, so the championship game with Cumberland Valley was huge for West Perry, and they showed their ability to compete with higher class teams right out of the gate. The Mustangs had multiple corner opportunities that they applied pressure on, and the back line of defense allowed no shots on goal for the Eagles.
Iowa pledge Jordan Byers put in a penalty stroke for the Mustangs in overtime to bring them the win against Cumberland Valley. West Perry had nine shots on goal and nine penalty corners before the penalty stroke, which finally broke the scoring drought throughout the contest.
Cumberland Valley Reset
Cumberland Valley has been competitive all season long, winning the Mid Penn Commonwealth division crown and becoming a team to beat in 3A. Coming in to the championship game at Chapman Field, the birds were the number two team in the highest classification rankings, but after a loss to 1A West Perry, they’re now back down to number five. The Eagles have one more game to get back up, and luckily it’ll be against another large school in State College. To put themselves in the best possible position, it’s a need-to-win game for CV against Ella Tambroni, the Michigan State commit, and the rest of a talented State College squad. Tuesday’s clash with the Little Lions will close up CV’s regular season, prepping them for battles that loom ahead in the District 3 playoffs, facing teams like once beaten Manheim Township, dynasty Lower Dauphin and more.
Mechanicsburg Finishes .500
Mechanicsburg finished the regular season with the two tournament games and finished a solid 9-9. Their first game in the tournament came in a 3-0 loss to West Perry, but the Wildcats rebounded well with a 5-0 shutout win against Hazleton. This comes just one year after glory but graduating 6 NCAA Division I players out of the senior class. The Wildcats play in the extremely competitive Keystone division and went 3-7 in division, beating Red Land twice, and East Penn. They currently sit in 10th in a bracket taking 16 teams to the postseason, and would currently visit York Suburban in the first round of a tough 2A District bracket. A bracket headlined by Palmyra and Northern out of the Mid Penn, the ‘Cats are still looking to make their mark on the playoffs.
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