Lehighton set for rubber match with So. Lehigh

EMMAUS - Yet another AA school felt the wrath of the Lehighton field hockey team.

The Indians remained unbeaten on the year, as they dismantled Moravian Academy 5-0 in the District 11 semi-finals Tuesday night.

Five different Lehighton players scored en route to the victory. With the win, the Indians advance to their seventh consecutive district final.

"We want to win and we just keep the pressure on," said Lehighton head coach Shawn Hindy. "It doesn't really matter if you win by one or by a hundred. If we want to get to where we want to be - we still have to win Saturday. You can't count these goals over for the next game."

Mountain Valley Conference MVP Corri McConville and teammate Abby Frey each had a goal and an assist on the night. McConville scored the game's first goal on a penalty stroke six minutes in, and then assisted on Kenzie Teno's goal seven minutes later.

The Indians out-shot the Lions 9-3 in the first half before really turning it on in the second. Stephanie Slaw, Sarah Keer and Frey all scored within seven-and-a-half minutes of each other in the second half to make the score as lop-sided as the play on the field.

Slaw put one in off an assist from Frey at the 15:47 mark. Two-and-a-half minutes later Echo Bretz passed the ball in from the left sideline through the circle to a waiting Keer, where she one-timed the ball into the net.

Then, with just eight minutes to play, Frey got in the books when she put back Jordyn Homyak's initial shot. Lehighton out-shot Moravian 13-3 in the second frame and also led in penalty corners, 7-1.

"That is actually pretty typical of our team," Hindy said. "We don't have one outstanding scorer. I say everyone is an outstanding scorer. It is really good to see and I like our team aspect of that because I feel like we are a team. Everyone can score. Everyone passes. They do their jobs and whoever is in the right spot at the right time puts it in."

Indians' goalie Sarah Snyder had to make only five saves on the night to preserve the shutout. Lehighton has given up just 11 goals on the season, including two in their last six games.

Lehighton moves on to play second-seeded Southern Lehigh in the district final on Saturday. Last year the Spartans upset the Indians 2-0 and put an end to their three-year run as district champs. The year before that Lehighton knocked off Southern Lehigh by the same score. Saturday looks to be the 'rubber match.'

"We have three goals every year," said Hindy. "One was to win the MVC and another is to win the district championship. We put ourselves in a good spot to get there and we are going to go from there.

"I haven't watched (Southern Lehigh) play that much - I mean I watched them a little bit tonight - but then we went to do our team stuff. They are quick and have some pretty skilled players. But like I said, we are going to play our game and we will see if they can react to us. I think that is the best way to go at it."