Tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m., a whistle will blow at Maurene Polley Field in Malvern, Pa., within earshot of the Amtrak trains running along The Main Line between Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
The field hockey game, featuring former PIAA field hockey champions Millersville Penn Manor (Pa.) and Malvern Villa Maria (Pa.) is the first in a 15-game rollercoaster ride, which will flow hither and yon across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania over the next fortnight, finishing at Chapman Field in Mechanicsburg, Pa. two Saturdays from now.
PIAA field hockey is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a bracket in the AAA classification with rivals, traps, snares, and backstories galore. It might be the all-time strongest and most talent-laden postseason bracket I have ever seen.
When you break down the 16 teams which qualified, only four teams — West Grove Avon Grove (Pa.), Easton (Pa.) Area, Boyertown (Pa.), and Gibsonia Pine-Richland (Pa.) have never made the state final. . Nine teams in the bracket have won the championship before: this includes the 1988 title won by Downingtown (Pa.) before the district split in half in 2003.
And importantly, there are two current state champions in this bracket: Emmaus (Pa.) and Villa Maria, the latter of which moved up to Class AAA from AA. There are some interesting parallels with Villa Maria and Emmaus. Thirty years ago this month, both teams won state championships on the grass pitch at Ursinus College.
But because the Hurricanes and the Hornets are in the same half of the bracket, only one of these two sides can make the state final. Indeed, the Villa Maria/Emmaus half of the AAA bracket has a lot of history and a lot of talent. Take, for example, what could happen in the quarterfinal round. The winner of Villa Maria-Penn Manor will have to play either last year’s PIAA AAA finalist Manheim (Pa.) Township, or 2017 PIAA AAA finalist Downingtown (Pa.) West.
In Emmaus’ quarter of the bracket, the second-round game could be either 2019 PIAA Class AA champion Plymouth Wyoming Valley West (Pa.), or 1995 PIAA Class AAA champion Fairview Village Methacton (Pa.).
In the opposite half, Hummelstown Lower Dauphin (Pa.) will take on Doylestown Central Bucks West (Pa.) in a first-round game which will see not only two of the finest youth players in the nation, but their highly accomplished mothers will be on the sidelines. Sophomore Chase Strohm is a defensive midfielder for Lower Dauphin, and her mother, LD assistant Kylie Kulina Strohm, was capped for the United States U-21 national team. On the other side, junior Aida Ierubino is an attacking midfielder for Central Bucks West, and her mother, CB West coach Lori Mastropietro Ierubino, was a midfielder for the United States in the 1994 FIH World Cup.
Thing is, neither Easton nor Boyertown, which are in the Lower Dauphin/CB West quarter, are pushovers by any means. Easton has played Emmaus tough over the years, even getting a goal in the first minute of play last week in the District 11 final.
In the lower quadrant of the bracket, you have 2022 PIAA Class AAA champion Mechanicsburg (Pa.) and 2019 PIAA Class AAA winner West Lawn Wilson (Pa.) in a possible second-round match. But, don’t sleep on Tredyffrin Conestoga (Pa.), which played Villa Maria to a one-goal game last Saturday in the District 1 final.
Now, I recognize that there are a number of states which are also crowning champions in field hockey over the next three weeks. But this bracket — this championship — could be truly special. The competition is going to be remarkable. I hope you, dear readers, are able to make it out to some of these games.
