By The Daily Item
Dreams lived and died on Tuesday in the PIAA playoffs.
Selinsgrove’s field hockey team, so close to reaching to the state title game in the past decade, finally made it — thanks to a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over Donegal in the Class AA semifinals in Hershey.
Their counterparts from Lewisburg suffered a cruel fate. The Green Dragons’ girls soccer team came up just short in its state semifinal against District 4 rival Loyalsock, losing on penalty kicks in Hughesville.
The Seals looked like their decade of frustration in the state playoffs was going to continue as they trailed Donegal 1-0 with a minute to play. But Hope Burke scored with 31 ticks on the clock to force overtime, and Ashtin Klingler scored in the seven-on-seven overtime period to lift Selinsgrove to its first-ever PIAA title game.
The Seals, now 23-1, will play in the final at noon Saturday at the Zephyr Sports Complex in Whitehall. Selinsgrove’s opponent will be Lehighton, the only team to beat it this year.
Lewisburg, trailing 1-0 at halftime, tied it early in the second half on a goal by Kalyn Fisher, but could not get the second goal.
After 110 minutes of soccer, the Lancers pulled it out 3-2 on penalty kicks to end Lewisburg’s season at 21-3-1. Loyalsock will meet Springdale in Saturday’s title game at HersheyPark Stadium at noon.
