Molly Rothenberger saw the ball in front of her in the circle and had one thought.
“I just picked it up and went to put it on the cage and get it in,” the Oley Valley junior said. “I just felt that urge to get it in and finish the ball.”
And finish she did.
Rothenberger’s shot went past Twin Valley goalie Maddie Stevens and in with 11:50 left to give the Lynx a 1-0 win over the Raiders in a hard-fought BCIAA field hockey semifinal Thursday at Oley.
Top-seeded Oley (18-1-1) will face second-seeded Wilson (18-1-1) in the championship game Saturday at Alvernia University at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs beat third-seeded Berks Catholic 4-0 Wednesday in the semis.
The two-time defending champion Raiders certainly got the Lynx prepared for that matchup.
“It was a great game,” Oley coach Tiffany Cappellano said. “It was incredible. I mean whenever we play Twin Valley, it’s gonna be a great game and then you add on to the fact that it’s the Berks County semifinals.”
Oley and Twin Valley — which have each won five Berks titles in the last 10 seasons — were meeting for the third time this season, and the Lynx had won the previous two, including a dominating 3-1 win just nine days prior on the same field.
But the fourth-seeded Raiders (12-8) stepped up their game Thursday. They earned the game’s first corner just 1:30 in and were able to control the ball for stretches at a time.
“We knew that they were going to come with a lot of energy and they did,” Cappellano said. “They really did a great job of stepping to the ball, and in a lot of cases in the first half, beating us to the ball. They kind of got us out of our game a little bit and so we kind of struggled to consistently get into that. But sometimes, like I said to the girls, sometimes it’s not pretty, but it’s just a matter of getting it done.”
The Lynx did, but not before being tested.
The scoreless first half ended with Oley having advantages of 4-0 in shots and 4-1 in corners.
Collette Lennon made a defensive save for the Raiders early in the first quarter, then Stevens stopped another chance soon after.
That was it for quality scoring chances until Stevens, a junior and two-time All-Berks pick, made a great save against Taylor Vaccaro with 3:20 left in the third quarter.
The Lynx finally broke through for Rothenberger’s goal off a corner. She inserted the ball, then ran to join the play. Alexandra Lopez earned an assist as she deflected the ball to Rothenberger.
“I was so happy,” Rothenberger said about scoring. “I was filled with joy and my team was. We really wanted to go to the championship, and we can’t wait to see what we’re gonna be doing Saturday.”
Twin Valley earned its only corner of the second half less than two minutes after Rothenberger scored and generated one shot, which was saved by Cenora Grim.
From there it seemed the depth of the Lynx, who subbed frequently, began to take a toll. They drew five corners in the final 8:39.
“We knew it was gonna be a hard fight,” Rothenberger said. “We just had to go into the game and know what was going to come and just stay strong and keep the energy up out there and really push through all the way to the end.”
While Oley Valley obviously was happy at the end, so was Twin Valley coach Kim Walsh.
This was considered a rebuilding year for the Raiders, who lost much from a team that added District 3 Class 2A and PIAA Class 2A titles to the county title they won a season ago. But they were able to reach the county semifinals and will open district play Wednesday.
“Coming into this, we were just kind of excited to be here and thought that we were just gonna come out and do our best,” Walsh said, “and we came out and we came out on fire. I mean we took it right down. We were on their side of the field almost as much as they were on ours. We dominated at times. We played better than we have.
“Playoff hockey’s really, really awesome for this group because we only have two seniors on the field. To have a showing like tonight, I’m proud of them.”
Oley, which last won the county title in 2019, turns its focus to Wilson. The two teams played to a scoreless tie at Oley on Sept. 22. The Bulldogs are looking to win their first county championship since 2010.
“It’s going to be a game,” Cappellano said. “It is going to be a game. I think everybody’s gonna have a lot of energy, have a lot of emotion. But this is great for Berks County field hockey. I mean, to get to have two teams that played in the regular season that played scoreless. To have us get another crack at each other, this is awesome. These are the games we want.”
Source: Berkshire mont