CB South saw its field hockey season come to an end as a result of Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to Penn Manor in the PIAA 
Class AAA semifinal round.
It wasn’t an ending they would have scripted to close out a storybook season, and although there were a few tears, the players seemed more disappointed with their performance than the outcome after Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to Penn Manor in a PIAA Class AAA contest at Tulpehocken High School.
The Titans drew eight corners but managed just one shot. It’s not the kind of production a team that had made a living out of cashing in on corners might have expected.
“It’s frustrating,” senior co-captain Emily Cliggett said.
“We knew we could have done better,” senior co-captain Corrine Kenney said. “That’s the hard part.”
“We could have done better as a team,” Cliggett said. “I’m not pointing out one defense line or offense line. We could have done better as a whole.
“I think we almost weren’t ready for the state semifinal game. People aren’t going to come out and play like they’re in a regular league game. We needed to bring that just as much.”
The Titans struggled to get the ball on attack from the outset, and the Comets drew five corners before the Titans had their first. With just over 10 minutes remaining in the opening half, the Titans were awarded their first corner. A drive by Kenney that was waved off as dangerous on the fifth corner was as close as the Titans came to getting a shot on goal in the opening half.
The sixth corner came as time expired, but even with a numbers advantage, the Titans couldn’t generate a shot.
Things didn’t improve in the second half. Cassie Kline (Brooke DeBerdine assist) put the Comets on the scoreboard when her corner shot deflected into the cage at the 24:37 mark, and the Penn State-bound senior added a second goal on Penn Manor’s sixth corner of the half at the 17:11 mark, once again using a DeBerdine assist.
The Titans drew three late corners but never really threatened.
“They always had nine of their 10 girls underneath the ball, at least,” coach Brittany Grzywacz said of the Comets’ defensive scheme. “Even when it was inside our attacking 25, they were all back there underneath the ball, creating a wall.
“That was effective for them, not allowing us to get shots off and hardly allowing us corners. Typically we draw more corners than that. I don’t think we played our best game honestly.”
Despite the disappointing outcome, the Titans had themselves quite a season, capturing the program’s eighth straight conference crown, finishing second in the district and advancing to the state semifinals.
Not the kind of season most would have predicted when the Titans didn’t have a coach until Grzywacz was hired in July. The first-year coach and her players turned a season that many thought would be a rebuilding year into a magical journey to the final four.
“Coach Grzywacz was unbelievable,” Cliggett said. “Coming into the first year, no one knew what to expect, but she really brought us together in a way that no one would really expect it to be.
“Sometimes coaches expect more or less from you, but I felt she was just right for this team. It was perfect fit for this type of team. She did nothing but good for us.”
“It was a perfect fit for her first year, our first year as a new team,” Kenney added. “I think we worked well together.”
The Titans closed out the year with a 21-4 record.
Penn Manor 0-2 2
Central Bucks West 0-0 0
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