It was a weekend filled with championship matches throughout the district. Hempfield athletics was certainly not denied as two of the school's programs brought home District Three trophies.
The two Hempfield title matches on Saturday took place at Dallastown High School, where the girls' volleyball team took on Central York, and at Hersheypark Stadium where the girls' soccer team faced Cumberland Valley - both squads vying for the District Three Class 4A title in their respective sports.
The girls' soccer team won its first district title in 13 years while the volleyball team claimed its 12th district championship in the program's history.
The volleyball team stayed unbeaten (19-0) on its 2019 campaign with a 3-2 defeat of Central York, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win the fourth set 25-23 and the tiebreaker 15-9. On this road to a district championship, the Black Knights' previous 18 victories included only one match that was not by a 3-0 margin - a mid-September non-league 3-1 defeat of Lower Dauphin.
Hempfield opened with a 25-18 win in the first set. Central York, which had nicked Hempfield by .000034 in the power rankings and entered district play as the top seed, won the next two sets, including a 31-29 grudge match in the third set.
Rachel Sipling helped power Hempfield to victory with her 16 kills while Claire Flood added 12. Fellow seniors Kylie Ulrich, who also had four blocks, and Jailene Lugo each contributed 11 kills.
Emma Bitner distributed 49 assists while Allison Cummings compiled 13 digs. Gracyn Krawizcki, another one of the team's senior leaders, served up four aces.
The Black Knights came into the title match after having swept Cumberland Valley on the same gymnasium at Dallastown on Halloween. The Black Knights posted winning scores of 25-22, 25-18 and 25-16 as Lugo notched 12 kills.
The always present Bitner distributed 37 assists to help the offense. Cummings again led the team in digs with 11 while Ulrich served up three aces and Sipling registered two blocks.
GIRLS' SOCCER
The postseason theme of the girls' soccer team has been extra time. The Black Knights bowed out of the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs in a penalty shootout. Exactly two weeks later they defeated league rival Manheim Township in the district quarterfinals by the same means; Jessica Weinholdt's goal 12 minutes into overtime gave Hempfield a 2-1 victory over Wilson in a semifinal match at Landisville on October 29. In fact, the 12-minute mark was significant for the Knights and Bulldogs on that night. Gabi Hollinger had given Hempfield a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the game and Wilson's Natalie Vicari had scored the equalizer 12 minutes into the second half.
Head coach Jason Mackey was asked about the players' conditioning, especially late into the postseason and how they've endured playing the extra minutes with winning results.
"We make sure we're fit and making sure we can make the extra effort to compete in extra time," he replied. "The games are very demanding, so when we train we also use the time to refresh for our next game."
Hempfield brought a 16-3-1 record into the district finale, facing defending district champ Cumberland Valley.
Megan Grube scored the golden goal for the gold medals 1:45 into overtime of the title game for a 3-2 victory.
"We had a nice long throw-in and kept the ball alive in front of their goal," Mackey described. "It got popped out at the top of the box where Megan was waiting, she put it in the top right corner."
The Knights and the Eagles (17-3-1) came out of the halftime intermission tied 2-2. Hollinger and Weinoldt scored goals within two minutes of each other in the first half for Hempfield with Abby Burdyn recording an assist.
Mackey noted that he saw great determination in his squad for the second half.
"We came out in the second half and the girls started to really believe that we belonged there," he said. "We dominated the second half and into overtime.
"Cumberland Valley is always a very good team," added the Knights' coach. "We've faced them before. When you're going against a Cumberland Valley team, you need to be at your best. They did a great job defending while we created a lot of opportunities. Also, we defended well when they countered."
Emileigh Antesberger came up with one key save as the Knights held the Eagles scoreless in the second half.
Mackey was asked about the achievement of Saturday night's big win.
"The one thing we talked about before the game was to take it all in, playing at Hersheypark Stadium," he said. "But at game time, understand that it's like any other game. Come out and compete. Everyone on the field and everyone on the sideline created a positive atmosphere."
CROSS COUNTRY
Senior Jack Mieszkalski and junior Evan Eshleman had back-to-back finishes in Saturday's PIAA Class 3A Cross Country Championship race at Hershey. Mieszkalski posted a time of 16:56.60 and finished 66th overall. Eshleman's 16:56.70 earned him 67th place in the race.
Patrick Anderson of Mount Lebanon won the state championship race at Parkview with a time of 15:25.60, which was 25.20 ahead of second-place finisher Dan McGoey of No. Allegheny.
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