By Lindsay Terry
The Penn Manor football team had a great season this year, but the field hockey team also contributed to the Comet spirit this fall.
The varsity team finished the season with a 26-3 record and made it all the way to the PIAA Class AAA final, becoming district champions on the way.
The state championship was held at the opponent’s home field in Lower Dauphin, and the stands on both sides were filled with enthusiastic fans ready for an intense game.
With 45 seconds left to go in the first half, Lower Dauphin scored to take a 1-0 lead. Fifteen and a half minutes into the second half, Lower Dolphin put a goal in to make the score 2-0.
Sitting in the middle of the Comet section of the stands when the game ended with a score of 2-0, the parents and supporters we not very happy with the outcome.
The game might have been a loss, but the end of the year banquet was a success.
The girls bonded together one last time while many of them were given awards for their hard work. For the junior varsity team, freshman Emily Robb was given the coaches award, and freshman Madison Warfel was given the MVP award. On the varsity team, seniors Shannon Sloss, Emily McCoy, and Eryn McCoy were given the awards to share because of their hard work and success this season.
Emily McCoy, Eryn McCoy and Sloss were named first-team all stars. In addition, coach Matt Soto was named Section One Coach of the Year by the Lebanon-Lancaster League.
At the banquet, Penn Manor High School Principal Dr. Philip Gale and all of the coaches gave speeches to the girls about how proud they were, and the seniors gave “gag” gifts to the rest of the girls on the JV and Varsity team. The girls were also asked to get into groups and make up poems about one of the four seniors who then got their own “gag” gifts.
At the end of the night, Coach Soto challenged the girls to go all the way next season and bring home the state championship trophy.