Pictured above: Wyoming Area sophomore Lyla Rehill
By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
Wyoming Area entered the 2022 field hockey season with two nemeses in its quest to rise to the top of Pennsylvania small school field hockey.
The Lady Warriors have lost 10 games since the start of the 2019 season – 8 of them against Wyoming Seminary and 2 of them against Oley Valley.
To get where it is now, Wyoming Area has already eliminated four-time defending Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state champion Wyoming Seminary, 1-0, in the District 2 Class A final. To reach their first state final, the Lady Warriors will need to get past Oley Valley Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Whitehall in a semifinal.
From the middle of the 2018 season through the end of the 2021 season, all of Wyoming Area’s losses came against state finalists: the Wyoming Seminary team that won the four straight titles; Oley Valley in the 2019 and 2021 semifinals before it lost to Sem in the championship game each of those seasons; and Newport in the 2018 quarterfinals before it reached the final against Sem.
Wyoming Area opened the 2019 Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 schedule with a 1-1 tie against Wilkes-Barre Area.
Since then, the Lady Warriors have won all 75 games against everybody except Wyoming Seminary and Oley Valley. They are 1-8 against the Blue Knights, who they supplanted as District 2 Class A champion after five years, and 0-2 against Oley Valley.
Wyoming Area is not just looking for its first win against Oley Valley. It is looking to score for the first time.
Oley Valley won the 2019 and 2021 state semifinals by 2-0 scores.
Sophomore Lyla Rehill leads the Lady Warriors in scoring with 23 goals and 8 assists.
Two National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I commits are next.
University of Massachusetts recruit Alexys Moore is second in goals with 15, along with 6 assists.
Michigan State commit Bianca Pizano leads the team with 11 assists, ranks second in points with 37 and is third in goals with 13.
Nina Angeli is third in assists with seven.
