Sem Nips Lehman For Championship

By STEVE SEMBRAT [email protected]
Thursday, November 01, 2001 Page: 3B

MOOSIC – This was the game to come up big. Julie Rifkin did it. Then Katie
Maza did it. And for the first time in 14 years, Wyoming Seminary did it.

Rifkin kept the game scoreless heading into halftime, Maza put the Blue
Knights ahead to stay, and Seminary scored a 2-1 victory against Lake-Lehman
in the District 2 Class 2A field hockey championship game on Wednesday at
Lackawanna County Stadium.
Both teams advance to the PIAA Class 2A state playoffs, although the
victory keeps the Blue Knights close to home for the first round.

Seminary (19-0-2) will host the fifth-place team from District 3 at either
noon or 2 p.m. on Tuesday at Betzler Fields in Wilkes-Barre Township. Oley
Valley will play Twin Valley for fifth place in the District 3 Class 2A
playoffs at 11 a.m. Saturday at Warwick High School in Lititz.

Lehman (18-2-1) will play the District 3 runner-up on Tuesday at a site and
time to be announced. Lancaster Mennonite plays Palmyra for the District 3
Class 2A title at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Warwick High School in Lititz.

“It feels pretty good,” Maza, one of eight seniors on Seminary’s roster,
said of winning the district title. “We’ve been waiting for this day for four
years.”

Actually, it’s Seminary’s first district title since 1987, when the Blue
Knights went on to finish as runner-up in the state playoffs. After falling
short of the district championship game each of the past three years,
Seminary’s seniors felt a sense of vindication with the victory.

“We needed to prove something by coming back against Crestwood and
Lehman,” said Seminary coach Karen Klassner. “We played well the first time
we played them but we sort of stubbed our foot against them.”

Ties against Crestwood, then Lehman during the regular season left the Blue
Knights undefeated but uncrowned, as they finished one-half game behind Lehman
in the Wyoming Valley Conference Class 2A regular-season standings. In winning
the title, though, Seminary defeated Crestwood in a semifinal and then Lehman
to earn a crown.

“There’s a lot of pride with the team,” Rifkin said. “We’ve been waiting
for this for four years, and we did it together.”

Rifkin, a senior goalie, came up with three key saves late in the first
half that kept the game scoreless.

“It kept the morale up,” Rifkin said. “Keeping it a zero-zero game was
important.”

Especially when you consider that Maza took a pass from Laura Suchoski and
gave Seminary a 1-0 lead one minute, 26 seconds into the second half.

“We knew we had to put it in, and when we did, it gave us confidence,”
Maza said.

Maza didn’t start the game, but came in as a reserve.

“Katie Maza scoring the first goal was big,” said Seminary coach Karen
Klassner. “She has been a great role player for us this year. When we’ve
needed her, she came up big.”

Seminary made it 2-0 when Lauren Powley scored with 11:15 left in the
contest.

That turned out to be the game-winner, as Joelle Lussi made it 2-1 when she
tapped in a pass from Megan DeCesaris with 3:10 left.

“Our kids hustled hard right to the very, very end,” said Lehman coach
Jean Lipski. “I love their effort. I love their heart, and I wouldn’t trade
this team for the world.”