FRANCONIA – Peyton Esposito was certain Conestoga field hockey’s season was not ending Friday afternoon.
“We always just knew we weren’t going to make it our last game,” Esposito said. “We’re hoping to fully go to the end and we’re willing to do anything that it takes to get there cause we love this team so much, we don’t want it to end and we would like to go all the way as far as we can.”
Esposito gave the visiting No. 6 seed Pioneers the lead less than four minutes into the District 1-3A seventh-place game with host No. 5 Souderton. Ava Bonelli doubled the advantage on a penalty corner in the second quarter and Conestoga held off the Indians from there to claim a 2-0 victory.
“It honestly felt great,” Esposito said. “We felt so connected. It kind of was like everything that we’ve been practicing. We really saw on the field and it was really good to see it.”
Conestoga, the defending PIAA champion, needs one more win to secure their fifth consecutive appearance in the state tournament. The Pioneers (16-5) facing District 12’s Northeast 10 a.m. Saturday at the Germantown Supersite in Philadelphia. Winner takes on the District 3 champ – Penn Manor or Mechanicsburg, the latter ‘Stoga beat in last year’s state quarterfinals – in the opening round Tuesday.
Souderton (16-6), which was looking to reach PIAA play for the first time since 2021, lost in the seventh place game for the second straight year after getting beat by SOL Colonial Division rival Central Bucks West 2-1 last season.
“The first goal didn’t hurt, the second goal kind of hurt just because that was not a ball that should be in the goal cage,” Souderton coach Sue Casciato said. “That’s a tough one to swallow but I’m still proud that they put a really good effort out there. We certainly didn’t roll over, I feel like we played ‘em step for step the second half.”
Friday was the Indians’ third chance at a state berth, having lost to Methacton 3-1 in the quarters then falling 4-1 to Garnet Valley in playbacks Tuesday.
“I said we’re a good team but we need one more stop to get to elite,” Casciato said. “And I said we had two losses to (CB) West, who has a good shot at winning the district, we had two losses to Methacton, who finished third, one to the defending state champ.
“So I said we won the games we should’ve but some of these games these teams are just a little bit better than us and we have to just do a little bit more to get to their level.”
Conestoga was edged in overtime by No. 3 CB West 4-3 in the quarters – West avenging a 2-0 loss in last year’s state semis – with the Pioneers knocked into the seventh place game by Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat against No. 2 Avon Grove.
Esposito put the Pioneers up 1-0 Friday at 11:24 in the first quarter, the junior collecting a rebound then flicking a shot into the far right corner.
“I remember sweeping it across, the goalie kicked it to clear it out and I just kind of ended up picking it up,” Esposito said. I just pulled around two girls and lifted it.”
Conestoga took a 2-0 lead with 4:44 left in the first half on a corner. Aubrey DelOrefice sent a pass from the left side of the circle into a crowd in front of the cage. The ball got through the traffic and reached Bonelli, who swept it in at the right post.
“Definitely a common corner that a lot of the teams use,” Esposito said. “We’ve been practicing it leading up to this game, setting a good ball across to the post and she was just where she needed to be.”