Broken jaw couldn't stop Autumn Albright from helping West Perry field hockey win district gold
West Perry's Autumn Albright wears toughness on her sleeve. In Saturday's District 3 Class A field hockey final, it was written on her face.
During a postseason scrimmage against Lower Dauphin two weeks ago, the Mustang senior broke her jaw. She absorbed a direct aerial shot.
Most would ponder a return to the pitch, but nothing was going to prevent Albright from missing West Perry's playoff run. The Penn State pledge scored a goal and assisted once Saturday, and the Mustangs soared to a 6-2 victory over Boiling Springs at Mechanicsburg's John H. Frederick Field for their first District 3 title in program history.
"I have such a wonderful team," Albright said. "Everyone sent me messages. They stopped by. They brought me a big gift basket. I had so much support, which made this recovery so much easier. I wouldn't have been able to get through it with as good of a headspace as I did without my teammates. They were there for me the whole time."
The Mustang program embodies a family dynamic, and Albright reciprocated the dedication.
She played Wednesday's semifinal against Susquenita with a facemask. Come Saturday, her head was wrapped in bandaging.
"(The facemask) made it really hard to see, and it fogged up," Albright said. "So we were trying to do something different, just to support it more. So my mom was Ace wrapping my head, and it worked for the first half. But then it was falling off, and I kept touching it, so I needed to keep my hands away from it. But I'm doing good."
Whether affected by her gear or the proceedings on the field Saturday, Albright fought through.
She converted a Jordan Byers' assist in the 12th minute to push West Perry to a 2-0 lead. Early in the third quarter, she returned the favor and teed up fellow senior Shay Dyer for a top-shelf score. If her stick wasn't in the offensive sequence, Albright was clogging up Bubbler passing lanes in the midfield and erasing threats on the back end.
"She's a tough kid, and she just showed she was," West Perry head coach Wendy Byers said. "I used to coach her in travel soccer, and I called her 'The Beast.' And she was playing like a beast."
Mimicking Albright's beastlike nature, Jordan Byers gave the Mustangs three goals and three helpers. Dyer and Madison Bell each contributed singles. In the moments of adversity, when Boiling Springs sprung for goals from Avery Doyle and Kate Yenser, West Perry wrangled a response that swung the pendulum back in its favor.
"It's all about trust," Jordan Byers said. "Whenever I send the ball, I need to trust my teammate that she's gonna do what she needs to do and do her job. And I think there's trust all around the field. I trust our players on the bench that they are gonna support us and yell, even if they're not gonna be in the game. There's just so much trust."
Trust and toughness defined Albright's District 3 final display.
She trusted herself to put her best product on the field, even when she wasn't 100%. She trusted her teammates for support, helping her continue to tough out a shocking injury during the most inopportune of times.
"I think, for me, it's about staying in the play, in the moment," Albright said. "Even if I'm nervous and I mess up ... it's kind of everyone just working together. No one is out there by themselves. There's 11 people out on that field, so we're all in it together."
Christian Eby is a sports reporter for The Sentinel and cumberlink.com . Love
