Earlier this fall, I wrote about how Pennsylvania is a hotbed for field hockey. To defend that claim, I noted that, if you looked at the rosters of the Preseason Top Ten Division I field hockey teams, you’d find 54 Pennsylvanians, including 7 players from the greater Lehigh Valley area.

Well, I’m here to double-down on that claim. 

If you look at the rosters of the teams that advanced to the Division I, II, and III NCAA Tournaments, you’ll find 31 players from the Lehigh Valley. There are six Lehigh Valley products playing in the DI tournament, 13 in the DII tournament, and 12 in the DIII tournament. They hail from Northwestern Lehigh (5), Parkland (4), Emmaus (3), Stroudsburg (3), Bangor (2), Liberty (2),  Northampton (2), Easton (1), Northern Lehigh (1), Palisades (1), Palmerton (1), Pocono Mountain East (1), Quakertown (1) (I know, I know, Bucks County, but I’m counting it…), East Stroudsburg South (1), Pleasant Valley (1), Salisbury (1), and Saucon Valley (1).

As of 11/18, the DI tournament has advanced to the Final Four—with UNC, Saint Joseph’s, Northwestern, and Massachusetts still in the running for the national title. The semi-final round will take place on Friday, 11/22, to be followed by the championship game on Sunday, 11/24.

The first round of the tournament featured one of our hometown teams, Lafayette College, who received an automatic bid to the big dance after winning the Patriot League Championship in a thrilling OT victory over American University. It was the first time Lafayette has won the league title since 2012 and landed the Leopards a spot in the NFHCA’s Coaches’ Poll as the 20th seed in the Week 10 rankings on 11/12. Lafayette was matched up against an impressive Saint Joseph’s team (ranked #4 overall in the tournament). The Leopards put up an impressive fight—ultimately falling by a score of just 1-0. 

Similarly in the DII tournament, the semi-finals will pick back up again on Friday, 11/22. Shippensburg, Kutztown, East Stroudsburg, and St. Anselm will battle for a chance to play for the Division II National Championship on Sunday, 11/24. If you tune into Friday’s matchups, you’ll have a chance to see Elaina Fragassi of Parkland playing for Shippensburg, Dakota Stiff from Pocono Mountain East and Sydney Frantz from Palmerton playing for East Stroudsburg, and Brinley Rex and Greenleigh McGehee from Northwestern Lehigh, Olivia Vaccari from Parkland, and Kiera Gallagher from Quakertown all playing for Kutztown. 

As for the DIII tournament, Tufts, Williams, Salisbury, and Middlebury will compete on Friday, 11/22 for a spot in the finals on Sunday, 11/24. 

At the high school level, the fall season wrapped up with Emmaus advancing to the PIAA 3A semi-final round, where they were ultimately knocked off by Villa Maria in overtime by a score of 2-1—surrendering the game-winning goal with only 17 seconds remaining the the first overtime period. The loss capped off another impressive season for the Hornets. The team went 25-2 (with their only losses in non-conference play to Penn Manor and Villa Maria) and earned EPC and District XI titles. 

Southern Lehigh was matched up against Upper Perkiomen in the opening round of the 2A tournament. The Spartans fell by a score of 4-1. The 1A tournament featured Northwestern Lehigh and Palmerton—with Northwestern Lehigh falling in a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Susquenita and Palmerton being defeated by Faith Christian by a score of 7-0.

As we have seen come to fruition this fall, many of our local high school teams have and will continue to pump out some of the nation’s top field hockey players at the Division I, II, and III levels. Not to mention, the Lehigh Valley is also home to an Olympian in Meredith Sholder and the 2023 National Umpire Award winner in Allie Mikelson. So, while the fall season may be coming to a close, be sure to continue to keep an eye and an ear out for the many talented field hockey players we have here in the Lehigh Valley. 

There’s no telling how far they may go.

Division I NCAA Tournament Participants:

Fairfield: Gabby Gober (Northwestern Lehigh)

UNC: Melea Weber (Emmaus)

Maryland: Rayne Wright (Liberty)

Michigan: Abby Burnett (Emmaus), Aurora Gery (Parkland)

Vermont: Lauren Schellhamer (Northwestern Lehigh)

Division II NCAA Tournament Participants:

Shippensburg: Elaina Fragassi (Parkland)

ESU: Dakota Stiff, (Pocono Mountain East), Sydney Frantz (Palmerton)

Bloomsburg: Morgan Magditch (Palisades), Kendall Iasiello (Northampton), Raegan Iasiello (Northampton)

Assumption: Riley Tepper (Stroudsburg), Abigail Romano (Emmaus) 

Kutztown: Brinley Rex (Northwestern Lehigh), Jocelyn Morgan (Easton), Olivia Vaccari (Parkland), Greenleigh McGehee (Northwestern Lehigh), Kiera Gallagher (Quakertown)

Division III NCAA Tournament Participants:

Babson: Ellie Powers (Liberty)

Ithaca: Emma Garver (Stroudsburg), Delaney Szwast (Northern Lehigh)

Shenandoah: Lily Kyvelos (Parkland)

Susquehanna: Casey Bruchak (Saucon Valley), Ella DeFazio (Salisbury), Reagan Heard (Bangor)

St Mary’s: Charlotte Horn (Northwestern Lehigh)

York: Billie Francis (Stroudsburg), Erin Maher (East Stroudsburg South) 

Marywood: Megan Engle (Bangor)

Ohio Wesleyan: Mattison Hyland (Pleasant Valley)

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

For several years now, I thought that we at Astound TV Sports had generated the most comprehensive high school football poll in our District XI/ATVN coverage area.

Each season, we are blessed to have a rotating panel of very knowledgeable Lehigh Valley football coaches, athletic directors and media members to give their opinion and vote for the top teams in the area.

But with a changing landscape to both the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and the Colonial League over the couple years, we decided to roll the dice and try something a little more challenging.

Instead of having one poll for large schools and another one for small schools, we tried to incorporate ALL teams in the same listing, while also navigating through an “unbalanced” schedule (ie., many schools not getting the opportunity to play each other during the regular season).

To be honest, it would have been safer to just keep our tradition poll and our unbelievable track record in being very accurate in our prognostication abilities over the years (and no, I’m not being self serving as I don’t get a vote and all the credit goes to our local coaches, administrators and media members who participate each year!)

But not wanting to rest on our reputation we shook things up with a brand new way to evaluate local teams.

 Our pollsters this fall gave their selections for who are the top 10 performing football teams.   Each voter selected the top 10 teams – with each team getting 10 points for the top team, 9 for the second best team, 8 for third and so forth.  In order to balance the bigger and smaller schools in the region, each pollster MUST include at least three teams that are NOT a 6A-sized school.

 One other unique aspect to our poll…the coaches and athletic directors’ names are never revealed so they can vote with their minds…and also avoid any potential “bulletin board” material, so each one can make selections without repercussions.

 Throughout the years that we have done our poll, the coaches and athletic directors have always maintained very objective opinions.  If you look back through our archives, you’ll notice that our pollsters have been amazingly accurate and unbiased in their selections, and our polls’ top teams very often finish similarly in the same order as the “power points” system that District XI uses when compiling its standings and playoff positionings.

Something else most other media outlets will NOT do: each year we also go back and evaluate how we did and tell you what worked and what didn’t.

So without any further delay, here’s a look at our preseason poll, followed by a look at how our FINAL poll shook out….(the number in parenthesis is the average points received for each team, with ‘10’ being the maximum.)

Preseason Poll

1. Parkland (9.6)
   
2. Nazareth (7.6)
   
3. Freedom (7.2)
   
4. Emmaus (6.2)
   
5. Northampton (5.4)
   
6. Northwestern (4.8)
   
7. Becahi (3.2)
   
8. Notre Dame-Green Pond (2.8)
   
9. Central Catholic (1.4)
   
10. Whitehall (.06)

Other teams receiving more than one mention: Southern Lehigh, Liberty.

Final Poll

1. Parkland (10)
2. Emmaus (8.8)
3. (Tie) Easton / Northwestern (7.2)
4. N/A
5. Freedom (6.8)
6. Nazareth (4.6)
7. Southern Lehigh (3.2)
8. East Stroudsburg South (3)
9. Liberty (2.8)
10. Whitehall (0.6)

Evaluation:

On the one hand, eight of the twelve teams mentioned in our preseason selections made it to the final polling results.

Our pollsters once again correctly identify the top team heading into the season, with Parkland capturing its second District 11 title in 3 years by beating Emmaus last week 17-3.

Freedom defeated Parkland week 2 and took over our number one spot for most of the year before losing to Easton week 9 and then lost to Parkland in the semi-final round of the playoffs.

Easton was the biggest “miss” on our part – and, in our defense, the expectations of most people cross the area. After totaling just three wins the last two years, not many people expected the Rovers to do much better than a .500 record. Their success was the biggest positive surprise of the fall of 2024. With a lot of big pieces back for next year, they will not fly under the radar heading into the 2025 season

East Stroudsburg South entered our poll two-thirds of the way through the regular season and solidified their spot in the top 10 with its second win over the defending champions from Whitehall, to win the District XI 5A title.

Two schools – Northampton and Central Catholic – were featured in our preseason poll but lost traction with a series of losses midway through the year and never bounced back (both made the playoffs but lost in the first round).  Notre Dame-Green Pond received votes in our preseason poll and was ranked as high as 7th at one point but suffered from a first round exit from the playoffs after getting upset by North Schuylkill.

Bethlehem Catholic also started well, winning four of their first five games but went 0-5 in Northampton Division play in the second half of the regular season and never returned into our “Top 10”.

 As always, we listen to and appreciate your feedback.  Did you like our “new look” poll? Should we go back to the previous way we ranked local football teams? Or should we go back to the drawing board and come up with something different for 2025?

Email your thoughts about our poll, local sports blogs or our fall sports coverage in general to Chris.Michael@astound.com

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

 First of all, it was another historic day for our Network as ATVN broadcast for the first time in our history the District XI boys – and girls – soccer championship live!

The student-athletes did not disappoint with the Northampton girls winning their first ever title (more on this team in a moment) and the Parkland boys team outlasting the K-Kids through 2 overtimes and a sudden death shootout.

It was yet another example of a continuing theme for us at the Astound Television Network as we continue to broadcast more high school sports to our viewers than ever before once again this year!

If you missed the outstanding efforts by both playoff teams, here’s highlights of both the girls and boys 4A championship games…

Astound TV Network Sports: Northampton vs. Emmaus (11/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Parkland vs. Northampton (11/24)

Northampton girls Head Coach Mike Missmer shared a story with me which I retold on a recent edition of “SportsTalk” prior to the soccer playoffs commencing and I wanted to highlight the accomplishment of his team from earlier in the year, here in an email he shared with me…

My 2007 Western Lehigh United girls, probably the smallest club to ever earn a spot at the US Soccer National Presidents Cup, finished 5th in the Country.

1st time in our club history since 1989 for any team to make the National Championship.

Our entire goal this season was to compete for our first PA State Championship. We achieved that goal after 120 minutes of overtime and a PK shootout in Philadelphia.  After winning the State title we went to WV for the US Regional Championships where we went undefeated against other State champions until the final, losing 1-0 to WV.  With 4 US Soccer regions in the country they take the finalists from each to create the 8 team National Championship tournament in KS.

After flying to Kansas (our first time we flew anywhere as a team) we went 1-1-1 beating the US Southern regional champions and earning a draw with the very talented US Far West Regional Champions (Who are in the final being played as I write this)

The teams we faced were all academy and ECNL kids – all stacked with high level college commits…  we have no kids committed to college yet and only a few even looking to play after HS.  We are just a bunch of HS players, some who have yet to, and some who didn’t even make their HS teams.

Through the entire State, Regional, and National tournaments we lost a total of TWO games.

Congratulations to both the Northampton girls and Parkland boys programs on an outstanding year!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Congratulations to East Stroudsburg South and Northwestern for already capturing District XI championships in their respective classifications last weekend.  Also, best of luck to those going after the 4A and 6A titles coming up this week (both championship games will be broadcast LIVE on ATVN this week!)

Before we unveil our second last edition of the “Astounding 10” football teams in our Lehigh Valley coverage area, here’s a look back at highlights of games recently broadcast on the Astound TV Network…

Astound TV Network Sports: Freedom vs. Parkland (11/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Whitehall vs. East Stroudsburg South (11/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Liberty vs. Parkland (11/24)

Now for the latest “Astounding 10’’ high school football weekly poll for this fall season.

Our pollsters give their selections for who they believe are the top 10 performing football teams that you’ll see on the Astound TV Network this fall.

Each voter will select the top 10 teams – with the top team getting 10 points, 9 for the second best team, 8 for third and so forth.

One caveat – in order to balance the bigger and smaller schools in the region, each pollster MUST include at least three teams that are NOT a 6A-sized school.

It’s a brand new way to gauge the top teams in Eastern Pennsylvania this fall, and we invite you to check back each week throughout this football season to see which teams make our poll…and who’s listed where, as decided by our diverse group of voters.

One other unique aspect to our poll…the coaches and athletic directors’ names are never revealed so they can vote with their minds…and also avoid any potential “bulletin board” material, so each one can make selections without repercussions.

Throughout the years that we have done our poll, the coaches and athletic directors have always maintained very objective opinions.  If you look back through our archives, you’ll notice that our pollsters have been amazingly accurate and unbiased in their selections, and our polls’ top teams very often finish similarly in the same order as the “power points” system that District XI uses when compiling its standings and playoff positionings.

So without any further delay, here’s this week’s edition of the “Astounding 10” … (the number in parenthesis is the average points received for each team, with ‘10’ being the maximum.)

1. Emmaus (10)
2. Parkland (9)
3. Easton (7.2)
4. Northwestern (7)
5. Freedom (6.6)
6. East Stroudsburg South (2.6)
7. Nazareth (2.4)
8. Liberty (2.2)
9. So. Lehigh (1.2)
10. Becahi (.6)

Other team(s) receiving more than one mention: (none)

Coming up this week we’ll have live coverage of our poll’s #1 versus #2 teams as they play for the district 11 6a championship on Friday. We’ll also have the number 9 and 10 teams facing off against each other for the 4A title game – which we will also broadcast live on Thursday.  Last but not least we’ll have our number four ranked team, Northwestern, play their first state playoff game against Conwell Egan.Bookmark and return to our page each week and check back after this weekend’s game to see if your favorite teams moved up or down in the minds and opinions of our pollsters.  And, be sure to check out the FINAL poll of the season next week, right here at “The SportsTalk Shop!”

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

November is upon us, and fall sports at every level are transitioning into playoff mode. While high school programs are kicking off the PIAA State Championships, teams at the college level are beginning conference playoffs.

The Lehigh Valley is home to six NCAA field hockey teams: four at the Division III level and two at the Division I level. The rosters of all four DIII teams are flooded with Lehigh Valley products, while the two DI programs’ rosters boast quite a few Pennsylvania products among many international recruits. If you recall me mentioning in an earlier blog post this fall, the sport is much more popular and commonly played throughout Europe, with many players having played since childhood, making them some of the top prospects for NCAA DI coaches. 

Some of these programs are gearing up for their respective conference playoffs, while others (those who failed to qualify for the postseason) have just wrapped up their regular seasons and are transitioning to the off-season. 

Let’s see how we got here.

Division III Programs: 

Cedar Crest College

The Falcons ended their season with a 5-13 overall record, failing to qualify for the postseason after going 1-4 in the United East Conference. 

The program is home to four Lehigh Valley natives, including the co-team leader in points, junior forward Avery Daku (5 goals, 3 assists), who went to highschool at Catasaqua, Courtney Gibbons, a sophomore defender out of Parkland (17 games started), Olivia Horninger, a junior midfielder from Northern Lehigh (3G), and sophomore goalkeeper, Shelby Heater from Lehighton (2.78 goals against average, 79.8% save percentage, 3 shutouts).

DeSales University

The Bulldogs finished the regular season with a 9-9 overall record and a 5-2 record in the Middle Atlantic Freedom Conference. DeSales is the #3 seed in the playoff tournament and will take on #2 seed Stevens in the first round on Wednesday, 11/6.

Remarkably, ten players on the DeSales roster come from the Lehigh Valley, including sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Schlussmann from Stroudsburg (2.80 goals-against-average, 74.9% save percentage, 2 shutouts), senior midfielder Maddie Trocki from Whitehall, who is the team leader in points (12G, 7A), junior midfielder/defender Nikki Chiaradia from Moravian Academy (3G, 4A), junior forward Brooke Sodl from Bethlehem Catholic (3G, 2A), sophomore midfielder/defender Megan McLain from Pocono Mountain East (3G), junior forward Brynn Ballet from Northwestern Lehigh (1G, 1A), junior midfielder Maddie Siegfried from Northampton (7 games played), junior midfielder/defender Morgan Benner from Southern Lehigh (1G, 1A), junior midfielder/defender, Angelina Day from Palisades (2G), and senior defender Paige Busch from Moravian Academy (17 games started).

Moravian University 

The Greyhounds went 7-10 overall and 5-4 in the Landmark Conference during the regular season.

Moravian entered the playoffs ranked #4, taking on #5 Juniata College in the Landmark Conference Tournament First Round. The teams tied 1-1 in regulation and after two sudden death, 7 vs. 7 overtime periods went by without either team scoring, the game advanced to a shootout (which is similar to a shootout in ice hockey with one attacking player versus the other team’s goalkeeper). The Greyhounds ultimately won the shootout 3-2.

“I am extremely proud of this group,” said head coach Sarah Dalrymple.

“Despite a challenging start, the team found its rhythm in October, displaying resilience and determination. The leadership of our seniors has been significant, guiding the team through adversity to the excitement of a shootout victory in the first round of the playoffs.”

The Greyhounds will play in the Landmark Conference Tournament Semifinal against #1 seeded Susquehanna University on Wednesday, 11/6.

The Greyhound roster features four players out of the Lehigh Valley, including the team leader in goals and points, Gia Ambrosino from Easton (13G, 3A). Joining Ambrosino is senior forward Carolina Catilao-Sanchez from Parkland (18 games started), Sophia Calantino, a freshman forward from Bangor (16 games played, 6 games started), and Shawna Mamrak, a freshman forward from Pen Argyl (5 games played).

Muhlenburg College

The Mules ended the season with a 7-10 overall record and going 2-8 in the Centennial Conference. They did not qualify for the playoffs. 

Sophomore defender Madison Horvath, a Freedom High School product, appeared in 12 games for Muhlenburg, starting four. 

Division I Programs:

Lehigh University

The Mountain Hawks went 7-10 overall and 2-4 in Patriot League play, failing to advance to the playoffs.

The Lehigh roster features eight players from Pennsylvania and three international players, hailing from Canada and the Netherlands.

Lafayette College

The Leopards ended the regular season with a 12-6 overall record (notably knocking off #20 ranked Temple University) and going 5-1 in the Patriot League. Their sole league loss came in double overtime to American University, who went undefeated in Patriot League play and will host the playoffs as the #1 seed.

Lafayette advanced to playoffs as the #2 seed. They will play third-seeded Bucknell on Thursday, 11/7.

The Leopard’s roster has five players from Pennsylvania and 10 international players from the likes of Germany, Netherlands, England, Canada, Argentina, and New Zealand.

Lafayette head coach Jennifer Stone recorded her 100th career victory this season. 

“It’s a celebration of the success of the program,” said Stone. 

Stone said the team remains focused on the process as they move into post-season play: “One step at a time. Bucknell is a fierce opponent, but we also believe in ourselves as a group.”

The eventual Patriot League champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Tournament.

Lafayette last won the Patriot League championship in 2012, advancing to the NCAA Division I Tournament on a at-large bid, the only at-large bid earned by a Patriot League school in league history.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

The high school football playoffs enter week two of the postseason: a quick reminder to bookmark and keep checking back to our website for our broadcast schedule of District XI and PIAA playoff games as we move through the post-season!

Before we unveil this week’s “Astounding 10” football teams in our Lehigh Valley coverage area, here’s a look back at highlights of games recently broadcast on the Astound TV Network…

Astound TV Network Sports: Whitehall vs . Pocono Mountain East (10/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Freedom vs. Liberty (10/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Emmaus vs. Parkland (10/24)

Now for the latest “Astounding 10’’ high school football weekly poll for this fall season.

Our pollsters give their selections for who they believe are the top 10 performing football teams that you’ll see on the Astound TV Network this fall.

Each voter will select the top 10 teams – with the top team getting 10 points, 9 for the second best team, 8 for third and so forth.
One caveat – in order to balance the bigger and smaller schools in the region, each pollster MUST include at least three teams that are NOT a 6A-sized school.

It’s a brand new way to gauge the top teams in Eastern Pennsylvania this fall, and we invite you to check back each week throughout this football season to see which teams make our poll…and who’s listed where, as decided by our diverse group of voters.

One other unique aspect to our poll…the coaches and athletic directors’ names are never revealed so they can vote with their minds…and also avoid any potential “bulletin board” material, so each one can make selections without repercussions.

Throughout the years that we have done our poll, the coaches and athletic directors have always maintained very objective opinions. If you look back through our archives, you’ll notice that our pollsters have been amazingly accurate and unbiased in their selections, and our polls’ top teams very often finish similarly in the same order as the “power points” system that District XI uses when compiling its standings and playoff positionings.

So without any further delay, here’s this week’s edition of the “Astounding 10” … (the number in parenthesis is the average points received for each team, with ‘10’ being the maximum.)

Easton (10)
Freedom (8.8)
Emmaus (8)
Northwestern (7)
Parkland (6.2)
Nazareth (3.8)
Southern Lehigh (3.6)
East Stroudsburg South (3.4)
Liberty (1.8)
Whitehall (.8)

Other team(s) receiving more than one mention: Notre Dame – Green Pond

Bookmark and return to our page each week and check back after this weekend’s game to see if your favorite teams moved up or down in the minds and opinions of our pollsters!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

First, we’d like to welcome three additional personalities to the ATVN Sports Team!

Mason Smith
Mason has been covering District XI high school sports for several years now and is particularly tuned-in to the local basketball scene.  He will be writing a bi-weekly blog on local hoops action for us this winter here on our website and, in addition, will be making regular appearances throughout the year on our “ATVN SportsTalk” program, which airs live on Thursday evenings at 7pm on the Astound TV Network and is also streamed for free on our YouTube channel.

Aziz Atiyeh
Aziz was a three sport standout at Whitehall HS (soccer, football, volleyball) and excelled at both soccer and volleyball at East Stroudsburg University.

While he will be able to contribute to Astound TV as a commentator for all three sports, he will be making his debut with his ‘favorite’ sport this Thursday as he provides analysis for the District XI girls and boys soccer championships.

Ben Childs
A former head basketball coach at Easton HS and a stellar baseball player at Lafayette College, Ben will be providing color analysis for both sports coming up for this winter and spring sports seasons.

Please join me in welcoming these new personalities to the Astound TV Network family!

Next, we want to honor this fall’s student-athletes identified as the best of the best in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference for girls tennis…

Regular Season Champions:  Parkland High School

EPC Tournament Team Champions: Parkland High School

EPC Tournament Champions by Bracket:
1st Singles: Helena Lynn – Liberty High School
2nd Singles: Maddie Groff – Allentown Central Catholic High School
3rd Singles: Valentina Munoz – Allentown Central Catholic High School
2nd Doubles: Aarohi Vaze / Kiana Miles – Parkland High School
3rd Doubles: Brooke DiGiacomo / Nat Hillegass – Emmaus High School
4th Doubles: Kylie Gleason/ Anahi Kanani – Emmaus High School

Congratulations to these athletes for these honors and keep checking back to the “SportsTalk Shop” for more accomplishments for student-athletes in our coverage areas!

Last but not least, we have four high school football playoff games (and the District XI girls and boys soccer championship) coming your way this week on the Astound TV Network!  Be sure to bookmark and check out our “broadcasting schedule” page here on our website for our fall sports postseason coverage!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

The funny thing about field hockey in the Lehigh Valley come mid-October is the vastly different scenarios in which teams find themselves. Some teams are cleaning out their lockers and looking towards fall 2025. Other teams are vying to stay alive for as long as possible. And some teams, the very top teams in their respective classifications, are at the precipice of a whole new “season”. 

For those very select teams with eyes on the PIAA State Championship game at Cumberland Valley High School on Saturday, November 16th, there’s another month’s worth of training and somewhere near eight or nine “win-or-go-home” games to get through to make it there. 

At this point, the season is over for anyone who failed to qualify for the District playoffs. For those who advanced to Districts (see below), the champion and runner-up from the largest school classification (3A) District XI playoff and the smallest school classification (1A) District XI playoff will advance to the state tournament, while only the champion from the 2A Class District XI playoff earns a spot in the PIAA State Tournament.

District Qualifiers:

3A: 1. Emmaus, 2. Nazareth, 3. Easton, 4. Parkland, 5. Stroudsburg, 6. Northampton, 7. Whitehall, 8. Liberty

2A: 1. Southern Lehigh, 2. Salisbury, 3. Pocono Mountain East, 4. Bangor 

1A: 1. Northwestern, 2. Palmerton, 3. Wilson, 4. Pen Argyl, 5. Catasaqua, 6. Saucon Valley

But before we totally shut the door on the regular season of play for the EPC and Colonial League, let’s recap how we got here.

Eastern Pennsylvania Conference

Surprise! Emmaus won the EPC championship. After going 13-0 in league play, the Green Hornets brought home their 42nd league championship with a 4-1 win over Easton. Emmaus will be the top seed in the District XI 3A where they’ll compete to earn their 36th consecutive district championship. Which is absolutely incredible, but is hardly even news around here these days. 

Easton, who went 11-2 in league play, advanced to the EPC championship after beating Stroudsburg (8-5 in EPC) 2-0 in the quarterfinal and beating Nazareth (11-2 in EPC) by the same score in the semi-final. 

Parkland (10-3 in EPC) also advanced to the semi-final round with a 5-2 win over Northampton (9-4 in EPC), ultimately falling to Emmaus 4-0.

Also earning an appearance in the EPC playoffs were Liberty (7-6 in EPC) and Whitehall (10-8 in EPC), who both failed to advance from the quarterfinal round.

Colonial League

As a very wise Lehigh Valley field hockey blogger suggested may happen earlier this season, Salisbury (13-3 in CL play) made a little noise in the Colonial League playoffs. The third-seeded Falcons upset #2 Southern Lehigh (15-1 in CL play) in the semi-final round by a score of 2-0. The Spartans had just beat Salisbury by a score of 2-0 less than a week earlier in league play and once more earlier in the season by 1-0. While league favorite Northwestern Lehigh (15-0 in CL play) ended up taking home the league championship, defeating Salisbury 3-0, this Salisbury team took their program to new levels with their championship appearance, having failed to qualify for the league playoffs any time in recent history.

Northwestern made their way to the championship with a quarterfinal win over Saucon Valley (6-8-2 in CL play) 7-1, and by beating Wilson (8-6-1 in CL play) by a score of 8-0 in the semi-finals. So, yes, you counted that right. The Tigers scored 18 goals in three games in the Colonial League playoffs.

Northwestern Coach Lissa Opolsky’s team boasts an experienced crew, including eight seniors and 11 juniors. 

“Once you learn how to win, it’s a lot easier in those big games and big moments,” said Opolsky. 

Also making Colonial League playoff appearances were Bangor (7-6-2 in CL play), Pen Argyl (6-7-2), and Palmerton (10-5 in CL play). All three teams failed to make it past the quarterfinal round, with #4 Palmerton being upset by #5 Wilson in a tight 3-2 contest. 

For the teams that play on, the first round of the District XI playoff will begin on Wednesday, 10/23 for 1A and on Thursday, 10/24 for the 2A and 3A classes. 

Given that I called the Salisbury upset, I’ll throw my two cents out there again. I’d venture to guess we’ll see Emmaus, Southern Lehigh, and Northwestern bring home District gold by month’s end. 

But as that same very wise Lehigh Valley field hockey blogger once said—only time will tell. 

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Before we take a look at recent high school football highlights, the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference just released its “All-EPC” teams for both girls volleyball divisions and for its all-league team members for this fall season…

2024 EPC Girls Volleyball All-Conference All Stars

All EPC: First Team

Milly Wolf – Allentown Central Catholic (Co-MVP)
Anna Quinn – Allentown Central Catholic
Emerson Springs – Allentown Central Catholic
Jocelyn Bell – Bethlehem Catholic
Bailey Corrigan – Liberty (Co-MVP)
Morgan Holland – Nazareth
Hailey Wanko – Nazareth
Izzy Fekula – Parkland (Co-MVP)

All ECP: Second Team

Grace Coppola – Allentown Central Catholic
Piper Ruggiero – Bethlehem Catholic
Lauren Horvath – Emmaus High School
Maleya Hinds – Emmaus High School
Elizabeth Sheldon – Northampton
Sarah Furey – Parkland
Rylee Ruggiero – Pleasant Valley

All ECP: Third Team

Grace Coppola – Allentown Central Catholic
Piper Ruggiero – Bethlehem Catholic
Lauren Horvath – Emmaus High School
Maleya Hinds – Emmaus High School
Elizabeth Sheldon – Northampton
Sarah Furey – Parkland

2024 EPC Girls Volleyball Divisional All Stars

East Division: First Team

Jocelyn Bell – Bethlehem Catholic
Piper Ruggiero – Bethlehem Catholic
Bailey Corrigan – Liberty
Malena Sabol – Liberty
Hailey Wanko – Nazareth
Kami Kirkham – Nazareth
Morgan Holland – Nazareth

East Division: Second Team

Sophia Bedics – Bethlehem Catholic
Landry Guman – Freedom
Abigail Schessler – Liberty
Jackie Henninger – Nazareth
Addison Morgan – Northampton
Elizabeth Sheldon – Northampton

North Division: First Team

Rylee Ruggiero – Pleasant Valley
Laura Ballek – Pleasant Valley
Isabella Slizewski – Pleasant Valley
Amiyah Poliseno – Pleasant Valley
Alexys Fulkerson – Pocono Mountain East
Leila Noboa – Pocono Mountain East
Jaylyn Rowe – Pocono Mountain West

North Division: Second Team

Amber Beckworth – East Stroudsburg North
Rylee Harris – East Stroudsburg North
Isabella Wickberg – East Stroudsburg South
Stasia Wills – East Stroudsburg South
Maeve Mazza – Pocono Mountain East
Kornelia Wszolek – Stroudsburg

West Division: First Team

Milly Wolf – Allentown Central Catholic
Anna Quinn – Allentown Central Catholic
Emerson Springs – Allentown Central Catholic
Lauren Horvath – Emmaus
Maleya Hinds – Emmaus
Izzy Fekula – Parkland
Sarah Furey – Parkland

West Division: Second Team

Brianna Bauer – Allentown Central Catholic
Grace Coppola – Allentown Central Catholic
Cirrae Cuffy – Emmaus
Kasia Burda – Parkland
Genda Avdijaj – Parkland
LaSereon James – aWhitehall

Now here’s highlights of recent games as seen on the Astound TV Network (Copies of these games can be purchased by contacting the ATVN studio offices at 610-443-2765).

Enjoy!

High School Football Highlights

Astound TV Network Sports: Whitehall vs. Emmaus (10/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Pen Argyl vs. Notre Dame Green Pond (10/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Liberty vs. Nazareth (10/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Freedom vs. Bethlehem Catholic (10/24)

Astound TV Network Sports: Dieruff vs. Whitehall (9/24)

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

After another exciting weekend of football games on the Astound TV Network, we’re ready for more this week!

The playoff races are heading up and both the race for the final playoff spots – as well as the battle to try to secure home field advantages – will come down to the final two weeks of the regular season.

Among this weekend’s broadcasts on ATVN include two of the top Eastern Pennsylvania Conference teams – Easton (7-1) and Freedom (8-0) – squaring off against each other.  

Then on Saturday, we’ll have NCAA football as Lafayette hosts Sacred Heart at 12:30pm.

We’ll also have four more games NEXT weekend – the final week of high school football regular season action.  Check back to our broadcast schedule page here on our website early next week to see the teams and air times of those contests.

Now for the latest “Astounding 10’’ high school football weekly poll for this fall season.

Our pollsters give their selections for who they believe are the top 10 performing football teams that you’ll see on the Astound TV Network this fall.

Each voter will select the top 10 teams – with the top team getting 10 points, 9 for the second best team, 8 for third and so forth.

One caveat – in order to balance the bigger and smaller schools in the region, each pollster MUST include at least three teams that are NOT a 6A-sized school.

It’s a brand new way to gauge the top teams in Eastern Pennsylvania this fall, and we invite you to check back each week throughout this football season to see which teams make our poll…and who’s listed where, as decided by our diverse group of voters.

One other unique aspect to our poll…the coaches and athletic directors’ names are never revealed so they can vote with their minds…and also avoid any potential “bulletin board” material, so each one can make selections without repercussions.

Throughout the years that we have done our poll, the coaches and athletic directors have always maintained very objective opinions.  If you look back through our archives, you’ll notice that our pollsters have been amazingly accurate and unbiased in their selections, and our polls’ top teams very often finish similarly in the same order as the “power points” system that District XI uses when compiling its standings and playoff positionings.

So without any further delay, here’s this week’s edition of the “Astounding 10” … (the number in parenthesis is the average points received for each team, with ‘10’ being the maximum.)

1. Freedom (10)
2. Parkland (9)
3. Easton (7.8)
4. Nazareth (5.4)
5. Northwestern (5.2)
6. Emmaus (4.8)
7. Liberty (4.2)
8. Notre Dame (2.8)
9. Southern Lehigh (2.6)
10. Saucon Valley (.06)

Other team(s) receiving more than one mention: (none)

Bookmark and return to our page each week and check back after this weekend’s game to see if your favorite teams moved up or down in the minds and opinions of our pollsters!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.