Since Oley Valley knew very little about its opponent, the Lynx had a simple game plan for their PIAA Class 1A first-round field hockey game Tuesday.
“What we’ve always done is make sure we focus on ourselves and follow the game plan,” said Oley Valley coach Tiffany Cappellano. “That has been something we’ve struggled with. That’s our main focus right now.”
The District 3 champion Lynx played their game most of the night, defeating District 11 runner-up Palisades 9-2 at Oley.
Tetje Williamson, Alexandra Lopez and Karlee Howard scored two goals each to lift the Lynx (22-2) over the Pirates (14-9-1).
The victory advances Oley Valley to the quarterfinals on Saturday to face the Lancaster Mennonite-Shady Side Academy winner.
The Lynx looked like they might dominate from the start when Mia Woodard scored in the opening minute off an assist from Lopez. But Palisades answered within two minutes on the first of two goals by Abigail Carey.
In between Carey’s two goals, it was all Oley Valley. The Lynx led 6-1 at halftime and were in control by the end of the first quarter after Williamson converted a penalty stroke and Lopez scored her first goal with with 1:18 left in the opening frame.
“We always come in with the mindset that we’ve got this and we play together and stick to our game plan,” Lopez said. “We knew we had to work together to get those goals.”
Lopez also had two assists as the Lynx executed the game plan to near perfection. Molly Rothenberger and Taylor Vaccaro also scored for Oley.
“You get excited when you come out of the gate strong and you’re able to score,” Cappellano said. “We’ve really been working on showing up and competing and I think we did that tonight.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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