North Allegheny drops section game to Pine-Richland
by: Bob Orkwis
After defeating Pine-Richland on the road earlier in the season, North Allegheny hoped to do the same tonight at Newman Stadium. But the Rams had other ideas and returned the favor with a 3-0 road victory in Wexford.
After a scoreless first quarter, Pine-Richland scored the game’s first goal in the final minute of the second quarter.
The Rams sent a bouncing ball into the circle that Sydney Bragunier saved, but the ball bounced onto the stick of Lucy Arthur who found the net for a 1-0 lead 52 seconds before halftime.
Pine-Richland took advantage of one of its seven penalty corners to take a 2-0 lead in the third quarter. Alyssa Baculik sent a pass to Claire Mill who buried the shot.
Trailing by two, North Allegheny had their best chances late in the third quarter on successive penalty corners.
With a minute and a half left, Audrey Evancho sent a shot just wide of the near post from the left wing. On the next corner, Evancho sent a ball into the circle, and Kaylee Volk picked it up in front, but her shot was stopped by Caroline Farmer.
The Rams scored their third goal in the fourth quarter, when Lydia Hart came down the right wing and sent a pass in front to Allison Kapanowski, who chipped the ball into the top of the goal for a 3-0 lead.
North Allegheny falls to (5-5-1, 3-3) with the loss, while Pine-Richland improves to (8-5, 6-1) after getting the 3A conference win.
Sydney Bragunier was stellar in the net for North Allegheny and was the Wright Automotive Player of the Game. The sophomore made two big saves in the game’s opening minute, and made four stops total in the first quarter, and added other big saves throughout the night to keep the Tigers within striking distance.
North Allegheny takes to the road on Monday and Tuesday next week visiting Peters Township then taking on Norwin in a conference matchup. The next home game for the Tigers is against Hempfield on October 12th.
Field Hockey Summary vs. Pine-Richland, 10-1-26
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pine-Richland | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| North Allegheny | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
