Pennlive

Jordan Byers scores hat trick to propel West Perry field hockey to District 3, Class 1A title

Z.Baker29 min ago

– The last time the West Perry field hockey team competed for the District 3, Class 1A title was against Conrad Weiser in 1981, which resulted in a 1-0 defeat.

Fast forward 43 years and the Mustangs found themselves in the championship game for the second time in program history with Mid-Penn Conference foe Boiling Springs providing the competition.

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The Mustangs program, under head coach Wendy Byers, finally earned that elusive prize Saturday at John Frederick Field.

University of Iowa commit Jordan Byers scored three goals and added two assists, with two of those goals coming in the first quarter, as West Perry defeated Boiling Springs, 6-2.

West Perry improves to 21-1 with the win. Boiling Springs moves to 17-5 with both teams heading to the PIAA Class 1A tournament next Tuesday.

West Perry opened significant daylight on the scoreboard after one quarter. Byers scored an unassisted tally by moving through the Boiling Springs defense, cutting into the middle of the circle and firing a shot home in the fourth minute.

Autumn Albright, playing with a broken jaw, re-directed a pass from Byers on a corner play into the cage in the 12th minute for a 2-0 edge.

Byers closed out the first quarter with goal during an untimed corner after time expired to open a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes of play.

The teams traded two goals each until Byers completed her hat trick with a goal in the 44th minute to give the Mustangs a 6-2 lead after three quarters.

THEY SAID IT

"(Getting the lead) was huge for us. As you can see, we have a small team. To be able to capitalize that quickly on the opportunities we had was key to our success. Jordan has come up big in a lot of our game. We ask a lot out of her and Autumn and Maddie Bell in the middle. All three of them had an amazing game. Addison Brandt as my center back came up so big. Zoe Steppe on that left back position had to constantly get the ball out of the backfield. Boiling Springs has a strong offensive part of their game and my backfield did a tremendous job tidying everything up," – West Perry head coach Wendy Byers.

"We knew West Perry was a great team. I'm proud of the girls for their fight, their effort for 60 minutes. I think we've been playing some really great hockey with great ball movement. We had some great sequences with a lot of work and a lot of effort," – Boiling Springs head coach Bayley Leonard.

Boiling Springs 0-1-1-0 – 2

West Perry 3-1-2-0 – 6

First quarter

WP: Jordan Byers (unassisted) 4:11

WP: Autumn Albright (Byers) 12:21

WP: Byers (unassisted) 15:00

Second quarter

BS: Avery Doyle (Kate Hovis) 21:20

WP: Madison Bell (Byers) 27:10

Third quarter

WP: Shay Dyer (Albright) 31:19

BS: Kate Yenser (Lexi Boyle) 43:09