CLARKS SUMMIT – Abington Heights held a lead for 40 minutes, but never threatened to add to it in a rare home field hockey playoff game.
District 4 power Selinsgrove eventually made the Comets pay, scoring a pair of fourth-quarter goals to pull out a 2-1 victory in the Oct. 27 District 2-4 Class 2A Subregional semifinal.
Abington Heights landed the first seed with a division championship regular season and received a quarterfinal bye.
The Comets started strong, taking the game’s first five shots for a 1-0 lead.
“We came out fast every game,” Abington Heights coach Glenn Carr said, pointing out that his team has scored more in the first quarter than any other quarters this season. “We always came out really fast; really aggressive.
“This was the first time we took that one-goal load and kind of really played defensive on it.”
The Comets played well defensively against a speedy opponent, but never took another shot.
Instead, it was the Seals who took the game’s remaining 12 shots and had the last 11 penalty corners.
They tied the game when Carly Aument got to a rebound on a penalty corner early in the fourth quarter and fed Allison Bucher at the right post for a close-range goal.
The combination reversed roles for the game-winner with 2:47 left.
Bucher’s lead pass sprung Aument, the District 4 sprint champion in the 100- and 200-meter dashes during track and field season, on a breakaway.
“I look and see where the goalie’s positioned and then, I send to where she’s not, in the cage, most likely far post,” Aument said.
Selinsgrove controlled play for much of the game’s last three quarters.
“I just thought we had stellar defensive play from our outside mids,” Seals coach Roz Erb said.
Selinsgrove won 17 straight District 4 titles before switching to a District 2-4 Subregional format the last two seasons. It won the Heartland Athletic Conference Division 1 title for the 13th time in 14 years.
Caroline Pease gave Abington Heights the lead with 7:56 remaining in the first quarter when she scored on a rebound.
CLASS A
Lackawanna Trail won a quarterfinal game before losing to top-seeded Wyoming Area, 1-0, in the semifinals.
Lena Ryon scored three times to lead the Lady Lions past Nanticoke, 5-2, in the semifinals.
Lackawanna Trail finished 12-6 overall.
