Conestoga advances with win over Penn Manor

BERWYN>>Conestoga shook off the sting of last weekend’s heart-breaking loss in the District 1, Class 3A championship game, and rebounded with a businesslike win over Penn Manor. The Pioneers (20-2) converted on three penalty corners and played a stifling defense to hand the Comets (16-6) a 3-1 defeat at Teamer Field Tuesday night.With the win, Conestoga advances to Saturday’s quarterfinal round, where they will square off against Manheim Township, the District 3 third-place finisher, a 2-1 winner over Pine-Richland Tuesday.

The Pioneers have been able to count on the defense throughout the post season, and have now outscored the opposition 17-3 in four post-season contests.
“Alex did such a great job covering that right post,” said Marscher. “She was super quick and made some amazing saves. She did a great job for us tonight.”
“Penn Manor has a really strong program,” said Pioneer coach Regan Marscher. “They had a lot of great passing, and some really nice block tackles that stopped us a few times. I’m proud of the resiliency the girls showed, especially when some calls didn’t go our way. They just kept going and kept plugging until we got the win.”
The Comets, who were the fourth-place finisher in District 3, came out firing, and forced the first penalty corner less than a minute into the game, and four in the first five minutes. But ’Stoga goalie Alex Lepore and her defensive teammates were up to the task, and made sure the visitor’s side of the scoreboard stayed at zero until the Pioneer offense got going.
“We were ready,” said Lepore. “They came out strong on offense, but we came out just as strong defensively. As the game wore on, we kind of got used to their style of play and settled in. I’m so excited that we’re moving on and have more field hockey to come. Our passing patterns were amazing today, and we’re playing well defensively. I think we have a lot of season to go.”

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