Comets Rout 2 Pa. Powers In Tournament

Sunday, September 12, 2004 Page: 4C

LITITZ – Crestwood’s field hockey team doesn’t mind going out of its way to
be the best.

The Comets took a two-hour bus trip on Saturday to thump two of the state’s
premier programs at the Warwick Classic. Crestwood beat Lower Dauphin 4-0 in a
semifinal game in the morning, then beat Warwick 4-0 in the championship game
later in the day to win the title for the first time in three trips to the
tournament.
“We want to prove we can be the best team in the country,” said junior
forward Amie Survilla, who had five goals and one assist over the two games.
“I think we can be that team.”

It’s hard to argue with that considering the quality of the teams that
Crestwood faced in the event.

Lower Dauphin was a PIAA Class 3A finalist last year, losing to Wyoming
Valley West 1-0 in overtime in the state championship game. Crestwood was
ranked second in a national preseason poll on the Web site TopoftheCircle.com
and Lower Dauphin was fifth.

Warwick, considered a contender for the 3A state title this year, is one of
five teams that have won back-to-back PIAA championships, doing it in 1999 and

team to accomplish that feat, and going out and facing some of the best teams
in the state is part of the plan to reach that goal.

“The plan is to get better every game,” Crestwood coach Elvetta Gemski
said. “We came down here with the idea of doing that.”

The Comets (5-0) didn’t overwhelm either opponent statistically, but their
execution around the goal was outstanding.

Survilla scored twice in the first 10 minutes against Lower Dauphin and
junior forward Elizabeth Drazdowski made it 3-0 with 58 seconds left in the
first half. Survilla finished off the scoring in the second half, and
Crestwood used mostly its junior varsity during the final 15 mintes.

“These kind of games help us improve our passing and how we play as a
team,” Survilla said. “Coming here and beating some of the better teams
gives us confidence, too.”

Survilla and Drazdowski scored in the first 15 minutes against Warwick,
then Survilla and Caitlin McCurdy finished off the scoring in the second half.

“This team continues to consolidate its strengths,” Gemski said. “We’re
getting tremendous efforts from everyone.”