Field Hockey Teams Ranked Their Opponents Before the Season: Here's How It Panned Out

Before the regular season, Mid Penn athletes came together at Cumberland Valley High School for Mid Penn media day. Players from all over Central PA met with journalists to preview the season. Along with a long list of questions for players in the Mid Penn Keystone field hockey division, I asked players to rank the division with their predicted order of finish for the season.

The regular season flew by in the blink of an eye, but it’s already time to look back to those predictions and check out how the players did ranking their opponents and themselves.

The Final Standings

1. Palmyra - 11-1

2. Lower Dauphin - 10-2

3. Hershey - 9-3

4. Mechanicsburg - 5-7

5. Red Land - 4-8

6. East Penn - 4-8

Preseason Projections (Voted on by team representatives)

1. Palmyra

2. Lower Dauphin

3. Hershey

4. Red Land

5. Mechanicsburg

6. East Penn

Not only did the Palmyra Cougars finish with a one loss record in division and finish on top of the Mid Penn Keystone, but they predicted the division correctly, ranking themselves first, followed by LD, Hershey, Mechanicsburg, Red Land and East Penn. Palmyra was also ranked #1 by Red Land. The Cougars started the year 7-0 before a tie with Manheim Township, then went on a total record of 14-1-1, 11 of which came from division W’s. Their only loss in division comes from Lower Dauphin later in the season at the start of October, losing 2-1 to the Falcons. They came into the final game of the year facing Hershey with a win needed to clinch the division title. A Trojan win against the Cougars would’ve forced a 3-way tie with Hershey, Lower Dauphin and Palmyra all tied for the division win, but a 4-1 win headlined by a great game from Monmouth commit Keely Bowers clinched the Keystone title for Palmyra, their first division win since 2018.

Lower Dauphin had back to back division losses earlier in the season, losing on an untimed corner goal from Meghan McDonald against Hershey, then two days later to Palmyra, but went 12-0 to finish the season and finish as division runner ups. The injury loss of Avery Pollock set the Falcons back, but Penn State commit Katelyn Strawser has led the way for a Falcons team who’s now the #2 seed in District 3 2A and ready to make another run to a PIAA Championship. The Falcons picked two out of six teams correctly, picking Hershey third and East Penn last.

Hershey’s had a tough schedule, finishing the regular season 10-5, with nine of ten wins coming from divisional play. They had a chance to tie Palmyra and LD with a late season win against the Cougars, but dropped that game 4-1 after previously losing to Palmyra 1-0.