The Lady Buffaloes ended their regular season with a whopping 14-2-1 record and 2nd place at the Perry County Field Hockey Championship. Going into the postseason, the team was faced with a stacked schedule.
Since their 1-1 draw at Line Mountain on Oct. 3, the team had a winning streak of three against East Juniata, Big Spring, and East Pennsboro Area. They had an overall power ranking of 0.633 and were #8 in the PIAA-A District III teams behind Susquenita but ahead of Wyomissing Area. Power is what the team strives for as they follow the phrase “Handle Hard Better” for motivation while playing.
The girls looked forward to the first round of districts against Wyomissing Area at Susquenita’s Blackhawk Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 25. For the first time in about twenty years, Newport Field Hockey went unrivaled against Greenwood, as the Wildcats did not qualify for the district playoffs this year.
Newport pulled off an outstanding first appearance this year in the district playoff on Oct. 25 with a 7-1 win over Wyomissing Area. Sophomore Korimae Reisinger scored two goals, Senior Leah Stuck and Junior Faith Livelsberger scored a goal each, and Junior Adison Geer scored three goals.
The Lady Buffs continued on the road to play #1 ranked Oley Valley at their field on Saturday, Oct. 28. In this matchup, Newport lost, 6-2. Geer and Reisinger both scored one goal, each with an assist from Livelsberger. “I was most definitely very excited to have scored a goal. I think it boosted all the girls’ adrenaline to keep pushing,” Geer said.
With this loss against a very difficult team, Newport moved down into the PIAA District 3 1A Semifinal Consolation bracket. This set them up to play #12 ranked Annville-Cleona on Nov. 1 at Susquenita Blackhawk Stadium.
There, the girls scored 3 and the Lady Dutchmen of Annville-Cleona only scored 2. An Annville-Cleona midfielder hit a powerful slapshot in the first minute of the game, but this gave Newport motivation to put their most into the game. Geer, Reisinger, and Livelsberger each got a goal to make up the final score.
The ladies advanced to the fifth and sixth place game against West Perry on Saturday, Nov. 4. With a previous losing score of 1-6 against the Lady ‘Stangs in the PeCo Championship game, the team went in hopeful knowing they were still going to play in the PIAA 1A playoff.
The team received an upsetting 2-5 loss against West Perry with goals from Geer and Buffington, but the team still went on to play in the first round of states against Lewisburg Area at Selinsgrove’s A. A. Stagg Field.
This game marked the last of the 2023 Newport Field Hockey season with a 1-2 loss against the Green Dragons of Lewisburg Area.
Finishing the season off of a record of 16-5-1, Newport Field Hockey has made another lasting impression on the overall athletic reputation of Newport students. Proving that handling hard better will help you persevere, senior Leah Stuck committed to Indiana University of Pennsylvania to continue playing field hockey at the NCAA Division II level.
“What appealed to me the most about continuing onto my athletic career at the collegiate level was the fast-paced skill level that I was able to play at as well as the community,” explained Stuck. “Ever since I was in middle school, my goal was to play field hockey in college. After going to many hockey clinics, I saw the community and the strong bond within the team. I especially was attracted to IUP’s field hockey program because of the high energy level that was on and off the field among the players. Overall, the level of play that IUP has and how welcoming their field hockey community is, made my decision to commit there feel natural.”
Under the new coaching of Laurie Zaring, the field hockey team had an insightful season in which they were able to learn and grow a lot. “It was definitely a different experience and every player had a different opinion on it but everyone worked through the change and pushed through it till the end,” said goalkeeper Gracyn Shutt.
Nearby teams such as West Perry and Susquenita both made it into the state playoff, but both were eliminated; West Perry 3-4 against Oley Valley in the semifinal, Susquenita 1-2 (OT) against Lewisburg Area in the quarterfinal. All PeCo teams starting out as young teams next year will set up an interesting next season.
