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.
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