Have you Heard? Bloom sophomore delivers in win
SELINSGROVE — With a season on the line, everything gets magnified, especially when a game heads to overtime.
Such was the case Thursday in a District 4 Class A field hockey semifinal between Bloomsburg and Mifflinburg.
The anxiety of passing to the wrong team, missing a shot by mere inches gets amped up as does the excitement of getting a breakaway to setup a 1-on-1 situation with a goalkeeper or a corner.
All of which occurred for both teams in the final frame.
It was the Panthers who let out one last cheer and celebrated under the goal post in a 3-2 win over the Wildcats with just under three minutes remaining in overtime.
Bloomsburg (16-2-1) advanced to the District 4 Class A championship game and clinched a spot in the state tournament.
The hero came in the unlikeliest fashion as the Panthers, coming off a corner — their 22 of the game — received a heads-up play by Natalya Heard in a scramble in front of the goal. The sophomore got a good push to send the defending District 4 champs Wildcats home.
It’s not that Heard is incapable. In fact, her speed was a difference maker all night — even after suffering a leg injury late in the first half — in helping the Panthers sustain offensive drives and keep the pressure squarely on the Wildcats’ defense.
Her ball handling is one thing, but her scoring? That’s another.
Her second goal of the season just happened to be the biggest one scored by Bloomsburg. Scoring a goal is something she isn’t even used to, and certainly not one of that magnitude.
“I have no words, honestly,” Heard said. “I’m completely hysterical. I ran track and just about fractured my tibia and was out all summer. I came back to hockey unconditioned, and I hadn’t scored much at all this year. I had a few assists, but that was just my second goal of the season. So my mind is blown, honestly.”
The moment wouldn’t have come into fruition if not for a pair of goals scored by Ayden McFarland in the wild second half that saw four goals scored and four goalies seeing playing time.
McFarland’s goals were separated by a mere eight minutes and her second gave the Panthers their first lead of the contest when she took a long hit by Bella Luxardo.
“I told them we had to clean up our passing game at halftime,” Bloomsburg coach Chuck Baker said. “I told them we had to get the ball to girls wearing white. Far too often, we were shooting into wide open lanes and getting intercepted by them.”
Her first goal gave Bloomsburg the life it had been looking for just 34 seconds after Mifflinburg’s Camille Fingerghty accounted for the game’s first score. Both notches came at the end of corner plays in front of the goal.
It seemed facing a deficit was all the Panthers needed to execute offensively, despite dominating in shots and penalty corners.
“When we play, we normally score, settle in and we’re good,” McFarland said. “When they scored on us first, we weren’t used to that. We just had to work hard and come back.”
The Wildcats, though, weren’t going to go away easy. They had a district title to defend after all, but only had a quarter of the offensive success the Panthers were having to show for it.
Camryn Murray didn’t care and was up to the challenge, getting a shot off from the top of the circle to tie the game and take Maddy Trivelpiece out of goal for starter Nadja Hartmann.
Both goalkeepers had two saves apiece for the Panthers.
“When you consider they only got into our circle a few times and capitalized — credit to them — but the fire from being pushed made them push back,” Baker said. “We knew we had to work hard today.”
That’s putting it mildly. Despite out shooting the Wildcats, 23-6 (16-2 in the first half) and being awarded 22 corners to the Wildcats’ three (11-1 advantage at halftime), the Panthers had a tough time cracking goalie Jaden Keister.
She was seen diving after balls and making heads up plays all night long, especially in overtime when she was quite literally on an island by herself, defending a tied game. All told, she accounted for all 16 of the Wildcats’ saves.
She even had to come out for a few minutes because her leg protection broke, and had to be re-taped in a fashion right out of The Red Green Show.
Much of shortcomings offensively was also a testament to the inexperience and growing pains the Panthers are going through.
“(The win) feels good because, even though people don’t believe it, we’re young,” Baker said. “We have one senior on the whole team, and so the entire starting team will be back next year. A lot of teams lean on leadership to setup plays, set the tone and when you have younger kids who play with emotion, you don’t play as sound as you’d like to.
“We dominated. We just couldn’t finish.”
Mifflinburg 0 2 0 — 2
Bloomsburg 0 2 1 — 3
Second half: 1. Mifflinburg, Camille Finerghty, 25:45; 2. Bloomsburg, Ayden Mcfarland, 25:11; 3. Bloomsburg, Mcfarland (Bella Luxardo), 17:54; 4 Mifflinburg, Camryn Murray, 15:49. Overtime: 5. Bloomsburg, Natalya Heard, 2:17.
Shots: Mifflinburg 6, Bloomsburg 23. Penalty corners: Mifflinburg 3, Bloomsburg 22. Saves: Mifflinburg 16 (Jaden Keister 16, Breanna Roush), Bloomsburg 4 (Nadja Hartmann 2, Maddy Trivelpiece 2).
