Oct 23, 2012 3 min read

McMURRAY – Despite a defense that held Penn-Trafford to zero shots on six penalty corners in overtime and a fantastic individual effort from forward Christian Schratz, the Peters Township field hockey team made an abrupt exit from the playoffs with a 3-2, double-overtime loss to Penn-Trafford in the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals Tuesday night.”It’s a really tough loss,” Indians coach Mary Rae Rocco said. “That’s the first time we played an overtime game this year. It’s stunning. It’s certainly not the way I expected this game to go.”I definitely thought that we were going to come out on top, but I guess that’s the way every coach feels.”Amanda Steffey scored on a backhander from the center of the circle just 43 seconds into the second 15-minute overtime period to give Penn-Trafford a chance to defend its WPIAL title next Tuesday at Fox Chapel.The Warriors (15-3-1) will play either North Allegheny or Fox Chapel, who meet in the other semifinal tonight.The loss – the second to the Warriors this season after a 1-0 defeat Sept. 29 – ends Peters Township’s season at 15-3 after the Indians went 9-1 to win the Section 2-AAA title and become one of four teams to reach the WPIAL playoffs.Peters Township had improved its offense under Rocco – something the Indians had difficulty with last year – and many expected a run to the state playoffs, as evidenced by the Indians’ No. 1 seed in the postseason.”We all saw ourselves going to states,” Rocco said. “So there’s always next year, and we know that they’re all going to want to be working toward that.”Schratz scored on a powerful shot after a run up the right flank with 5 minutes, 45 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.Penn-Trafford dictated play in the extra session and generated six penalty corners, but Hannah Wilcox, Sarah Kronket, Sam Moore and Emily Cocco took turns clearing the ball out of the circle.”Peters came out a lot faster on defense than we thought they would,” Penn-Trafford coach Cindy Dutt said.But early in the second overtime period, Isabel Siergiej pushed a ball ahead, and Steffey appeared to catch the Peters Township defense off-guard with a reverse flip.Steffey also scored at 19:26 of the opening half on a blast from the top of the circle following the fourth of Penn-Trafford’s 14 penalty corners.Schratz answered by slipping free into some open space to the right of the cage and buried a heavy shot that Dutt said might have intimidated her players.Schratz is a male, permitted by WPIAL rules to play field hockey.”We have a guy on our team, and I don’t have a problem with it,” Dutt said. “But I think when he’s coming full force, I think he intimidated some of the girls.”Sydney Pribanic deflected a Steffey shot at 1:05 of the opening half to give Penn-Trafford a 2-1 lead before Schratz tied it late in regulation.”They kids did a great job, but they’re heartbroken over the loss,” Rocco said. “It’s tough. We should have won, but I guess somebody has to lose.”