Through: Jerin steele

Sunday 21 November 2021 | 11:01 am

A few nights after the Pine-Richland field hockey season ended, Rams coach Donna Stephenson said it felt weird to stay home because she felt like she should s ‘train with your team.

Stephenson’s feelings went beyond the daily routine of teams over the course of a season before it suddenly came to an end.

It stemmed from the pleasure she got to hang out with a group of positive girls day in and day out as they won a third consecutive WPIAL Class 3A title.

“We had so much fun,” Stephenson said. “It’s a great group of girls. I am proud of the culture they have built this season. It was a very good year.

The culture revolved around seven seniors: Claire O’Connor, Laura Krill, Fiona Kortyna, Rylie Wollerton, Grace Merlack, Riley Kirby and Sadie Baratka.

Stephenson met each of them on June 4th at a cafe and they discussed what they wanted to accomplish. She was proud of how they fostered a team-first environment.

“They were great, and I told them at our banquet that they are setting the standard for future senior classes,” Stephenson said.

“If you walked into the locker room and saw how the girls got along and supported each other, you couldn’t tell who was a senior or who was a junior, sophomore or freshman. That’s how united these girls were. We owe a lot to this senior class. They were all great leaders on and off the pitch.

There have been plenty of individual accolades that have come out this season such as Louisville rookie Wollerton named the NFHCA’s National School Player of the Month for the second year in a row. She has 56 goals and 14 assists this season.

Kortyna, who will play at St. Mary’s College Division III in Maryland next year, scored 16 goals and Baratka recorded 11 shutouts in goal to finish with 19 for his career.

Wollerton, Kortyna, junior Mary Wymard and rookie Georgia Rottinghaus were named to the WPIAL 3A All-Star Team, while Baratka and Krill were honorable mentions.

The Rams outscored North Allegheny, 3-1, in the WPIAL title game behind a pair of goals from Wollerton and one from Rottinghaus.

After that, Pine-Richland hosted Central York in the first round of the PIAA Playoffs and lost 2-0.

It was a much closer result than last year’s 5-0 loss to Central Dauphin, which signaled a positive development at the state level.

“We have taken it one step further for sure,” Stephenson. “It was our best performance (in the US). We were only one goal behind before the third quarter. We were hoping to score a goal because it would cost us a monkey, but we played well. The girls gave it their all, but Central York was good. We liked playing them because it was competitive. They actually beat Wilson (in the quarterfinals), so they advanced to the semi-finals. It’s their first time in the US so it’s a big deal for them.

The Rams are returning four starters and will opt for a four-round district next fall. They will also look to continue the challenge of trying to get the first playoff win in program history.

“I feel really good with what we have now and what lies ahead of college,” Stephenson said. “We have worked hard and the dividends are paying off. We will reinvest these dividends to maintain the strength of the program. We are happy with our success, but we also want to keep raising the bar.

“I told the girls we were going to win states one day. It might not be next year or the year after, but it will happen someday and I’m not afraid to say it. We want our daughters to think big. You need to set big goals for yourself to stretch for continuous improvement. “

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Pin-Richland