The Lady Buffaloes have shown immense growth throughout the 2024 field hockey season.
After the rough run in the Perry County Field Hockey tournament, the team looked forward to a more prosperous season. However, the team’s loss was tough but didn’t set the tone for the next few weeks.
In the tournament, Newport lost to West Perry, 0-5, and Susquenita, 1-2, which would begin the season rocky.
Regular season play began and Newport went on a three-game winning streak against Selinsgrove Area, 3-0, Mifflin County, 4-0, and Forbes Road, 7-0. The first two Tri-Valley League matchups didn’t end as expected with back-to-back losses to Greenwood, 0-2, and Susquenita, 1-4.
The Buffaloes bounced back with a 4-0 win against Line Mountain, followed by a highly anticipated 3-0 win against Bishop McDevitt. The team would go on to finish out September with nothing but wins: 7-0 over Big Spring, 12-0 over Forbes Road, 3-0 over Greenwood, and 8-1 over Honesdale.
October was just as good to the Buffaloes as September was; they finished out the regular season with an additional five wins: 2-1 over Twin Valley, 6-2 over West York Area, 1-0 over Line Mountain, 3-0 over Susquenita, and 7-0 over Schuylkill Valley.
The Newport Lady Buffaloes field hockey team geared up for a postseason like no other. The PIAA District III Class A playoffs began, and Newport went into them with strong minds and even stronger drive.
To begin, Newport took their talent to Susquenita on Oct. 23 to play previous postseason rival Oley Valley. They came out victorious with a 2-1 win with goals from senior midfielder Delaney Greene and senior offender Adison Geer. Senior offender Makenna Buffington helped out with an assist as well. On defense, senior goalkeeper Gracyn Shutt saved ten shots. Newport advanced to the quarterfinals held on Oct. 26.
In the district quarterfinal matchup against West Perry at West Perry, the Buffaloes fell 0-4. Despite the difficult game, Newport managed two shots on the Mustang goalkeeper and Shutt kept six shots out herself.
Now in the consolation bracket, Newport played Greenwood at West Perry on Oct. 30. In this extremely close game, Newport left with a near win, 5-4, over the Wildcats with four goals from Geer and one from senior midfielder Megan Foltz. Some of these goals were assisted by Greene, senior midfielder Faith Livelsberger, and junior offender Korimae Reisinger. Defensively, Shutt had nine saves.
With the win against Greenwood being the team’s ticket punch to the state playoffs, Newport could rest easy knowing that the fifth-place game was to be taken seriously but not aggressively.
Nonetheless, on Nov. 2, Newport shut out Wyomissing Area there 6-0 to take the title of fifth out of the original pool of sixteen PIAA District III Class A teams. Buffington had a hat trick that contributed to the team’s overall goals, Geer added one herself, Livelsberger, additionally with one goal, and Reisinger scored a goal as well. The barrage of offensive play allowed Shutt four saves the entire game. This strength of both offense and defense respectively would help the team in their state playoff run.
Now in the state playoffs, on Nov. 5, the Lady Buffaloes battled Mifflinburg Area at Shikellamy which ended in another shutout in Newport’s favor, 5-0. Geer and Buffington both had two goals themselves and Greene scored a goal also. Geer had two assists to her name in the duration of this game. Here, Shutt only had four saves the entire game. This win over District IV’s Class A champion sent Newport to the state quarterfinals.
At Biemesderfer Stadium of Millersville University on Nov. 9, Newport fought District I’s runner-up Pope John Paul II for a stressful 3-2 victory. This game was certainly a “they called; we answered” situation for the Buffaloes as when a PJP player would score, Newport would respond. Geer had two of the goals herself and later shifted her scoring power with an assist over to sophomore offender Peyton Eisenhart who earned her first postseason goal. Furthering their strength in the circle, Eisenhart also had an assist for Geer. On the university’s turf, Shutt found herself with eight saves total.
This win would take them into the state semifinals to face future undefeated state champions West Perry for the third time this season. Understanding this could be the last game of the season, Newport played with intensity and determination despite the 0-2 outstanding record against the Mustangs and the colder conditions of the night.
On Nov. 12 West Perry scored three in a row to begin the game off, then Geer guided one goal in for the Buffaloes during the fourth quarter to not let the team go down scoreless for a 1-3 final score. Regardless, Shutt held down the goal with twelve saves, her postseason maximum. She had 53 saves throughout the entire postseason. “The games definitely got a lot more stressful and more intense, but I really trusted my defense and tried to stay as vocal as I could… one of the biggest ways I’ve personally improved is moving past an error and getting back into things and motivating the rest of the team,” said Shutt in reflection.
Newport field hockey was a winning team; they had the power, skill set, motivation, and staff to be a successful team. Mrs. Lisa Good, being the third head coach in three years, took this season on knowing what she was capable of accomplishing. “Going into this season as the “head coach” I was very nervous. I made sure to do my research though and feel I was able to be a strong supporter of the extremely talented coaches we had this year,” said Good.
