Central Bucks West field hockey advanced to Tuesday’s PIAA 3A State Tournament semifinal, thanks to its double overtime win over Lower Dauphin at Coatesville High School Saturday.
PIAA 3A State Tournament quarterfinal
#1-2 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 4, #3-3 LOWER DAUPHIN 3 (2 OT)
It was a game they’ll be talking about for a long, long time.
Remembering how they celebrated and then waited and then finally could celebrate a win that had the most dramatic of endings.
It began with Aida Ierubino taking the ball off the stick of a defender near midfield and going on the attack. After deftly dodging a defender at the top of the circle, the senior captain was met by the goalie. Both players went down in a collision as the ball trickled toward the goal where a shot by Eve Damsker was stopped near the goal line by a defender whose clear found the stick of sophomore Lucy Smith.
“Eve shot it, and the girl made a great save, but then she cleared it out right to me, and I one-time reversed it,” Smith said of a goal that was celebrated with a dog pile in the circle..
But the celebration was short-lived as the two game officials met with the two head coaches to explain the game-ending play. It was not a brief meeting.
“I was a little nervous that they were going to take it back, but then Lori gave us the thumbs up that we won,” Smith said.
“I was a little scared,” Ierubino said. “But we all knew that it really was either a standing goal or a stroke, so we had that confidence behind us, but at the same time, you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s not up to us.
“So it was really the buildup, and it felt like the biggest relief ever when we got the thumbs up that it was all good.”
Ierubino was still on the ground when Smith scored the game-winner.
“I looked up, I saw Lucy’s stick and then I just saw it hit the cage,” the senior captain said. “I had no idea Eve was there. I just saw Lucy’s stick hit the ball in, and that was kind of the last thing I saw. It was surreal.”
The win vaulted the Bucks into the state semifinals for the second time in as many years. It was the third time the seniors have faced perennial state power Lower Dauphin in the state tournament. As freshmen, they lost 3-1 in an opening round game but avenged that loss with a double overtime 2-1 win last year.
“We keep playing Lower Dauphin,” Ierubino said. “It’s just so awesome. We all knew we did not want our season to end this way, especially for the seniors. It’s so great to keep it going.”
The game: After a double overtime win with an ending that – for a while – was uncertain, it was easy to forget about the high drama of the game in regulation that saw both teams score three goals. All three of Lower Dauphin’s goals were scored by Chase Strohm – all three were scored during corner play. West’s goals – two by Ierubino and one by sophomore Grace McGrath – were scored in the flow of play.
“Aida is teammates with Chase,” West coach Lori Ierubino said. “She’s got a phenomenal shot. We went into the game saying – we can’t give them corners, and we had chances. It wasn’t that we didn’t have chances, especially in overtime.”
West had the early momentum, thanks to a pair of first-quarter goals – one each by Ierubino and sophomore Grace McGrath.
Six minutes into the second quarter, Strohm put the Falcons on the scoreboard with a powerful corner shot that found the cage. Later in the quarter, Ierubino scored in a dazzling individual effort, carrying the ball from midfield into the circle where she won the one-on-one battle with the goalie.
West took that 3-1 lead into halftime and still had a two-goal lead heading into the final quarter, but the Falcons were threatening. Only a standout effort by West goalie Kendra Pitts and the Bucks’ defense kept the Falcons off the scoreboard.
Strohm scored on a corner just over two minutes into the fourth quarter to make it a 3-2 game and then connected on the equalizer with just over eight minutes remaining in regulation, setting the stage for overtime.
“I told the girls the word for this game was ‘intention,’” coach Lori Ierubino said. “Everything we had to do had to be with intention and purpose, not like – ‘I wonder what’s going to happen’ because Lower Dauphin is going to capitalize.”
While the Falcons had the better of play in the second half, they did not carry that momentum into overtime where the Bucks controlled play in the initial overtime, drawing five corners, but they could not connect as Lower Dauphin goalie Laurel Unger came up with several big stops.
“We knew we had space in overtime, and we’ve been working on it a lot,” coach Ierubino said of the 7v7 overtime. “I think it was just a mindset – ‘That’s enough, we let it almost get away from us. We’re going to finish this.’
“That first overtime we dominated, and that was our talk before the second one – you’re not going to feel good if we have all these opportunities and lose this game.’”
That didn’t happen, thanks to Smith’s game-winner in the second overtime.
Pitts a rock in goal: All but lost in the shuffle of the dramatic ending was the standout effort of senior Kendra Pitts – who delivered double-digit saves – in goal.
“They were very dangerous,” Pitts said. “We came out strong. I think we definitely let up. They started getting corners, and Chase definitely has a good shot. Once we let her get in there, it was our own bad for that.
“It was nice to have a team win where we all were working for it through two overtime periods.”
The Bucks, according to coach Ierubino, were late arriving at the field and had an abbreviated warmup.
“I was a little nervous,” Ierubino said. “We got here a little bit later than we thought we would, so she didn’t get her full pre-game routine, so I was nervous that she would focus on that.
“She rises to the challenge, she’s awesome. When she’s in big games, she performs even better. If they get through us, she’s there for us. She’s phenomenal.’”
Scoring summary
First quarter
Aida Ierubino (CBW) 11:11
Grace McGrath (CBW) 3:30
Second quarter
Chase Strohm (LD) assisted by Lily Rost, 8:52
Aida Ierubino (CBW) 2:21
Third quarter – No score
Fourth quarter
Chase Strohm (LD) 12:42
Chase Strohm (LD) assisted by Ashlyn McGrady, 8:16
Overtime 1 – No score
Overtime 2
Lucy Smith (CBW) 6:23
By the numbers: Penalty corners: CBW 15, LD 15.
Up next: Central Bucks West will face District 3 champion Penn Manor in Tuesday’s PIAA 3A title game at a time and site to be announced.
“With eight teams left in PA, which is a hotbed for field hockey, you know they’re going to be great games,” coach Ierubino said. “This was an example of that – two great teams, and sadly, somebody has to lose. I’m glad it wasn’t us, but every game from here on out is going to be a battle for the entire time.”
Central Bucks West 2-1-0-0-0-1 4
Lower Dauphin 0-1-0-2-0-0 3
PIAA Class 1A quarterfinal
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