Behn’s two goals boost Warwick in L-L quarters

Warwick sophomore Emily Behn (left) looks to get around an ELCO defender in the Lady Warriors’ 3-0 win Tuesday night. Photo by Missi Mortimer

Sophomore Emily Behn is a weapon for Warwick’s field hockey team in multiple ways.

One of those is with her wicked shot.

“Man, she’s got a hard shot,” Warwick coach Bob Derr said. “You don’t want to be standing in front of that.”

Behn put that rocket shot on display a couple of times Tuesday night, scoring just 17 seconds apart late in the first half, and the Warwick girls went on to beat Section Three champion ELCO in the L-L League playoff quarterfinals at Penn Manor.

The Lady Warriors, who finished third in Section One, improved to 10-9 with the win.

“The girls played really well,” Derr said. “The key thing is that you’re playing to win to get to the next round. That’s the main goal. We controlled the game pretty well, did some nice passing, and kept them out of our cage, which was good. They had some opportunities. Being Section champs, ELCO was definitely competitive.”

Warwick’s opponent in Thursday’s semi-finals needs no introduction, as they will face Section One champ Penn Manor at Conestoga Valley at 5 p.m.

In two earlier meetings this fall, the Comets won both times, 6-0 and 4-0.

Certainly, the Warwick girls should have some positive energy for that match-up coming off of their domination of the Lady Raiders.

The Lady Warriors generated a 19-5 advantage in shots and had 12 of the game’s 15 penalty corners.

And when Caitlyn Grodzicki scored unassisted with 11:56 elapsed in the first, Warwick took the lead and never looked back.

It was still a 1-0 game when Behn scored the first of her two goals at the 23:30 mark, capitalizing on an assist from Grodzicki.

Just 17 seconds later, Behn’s second goal made it 3-0 — a lead which Warwick carried into the half.

“(Emily)’s only a sophomore and she’s coming along as a player,” Derr said. “I think next year she’s definitely going to be dangerous. She just has to work on her elimination skills as an attack player and that would just simply make her even more dangerous with the ball. She’s dangerous at the top of the circle. She works hard. And the other thing I like about her is she can get corners. If she doesn’t get a chance to get a shot off, she’ll get a penalty corner. She does really well at that.”

The Lady Warriors actually had opportunities to add to their lead in the second half, creating 10 of their 19 corners following the break, but there was no further scoring. ELCO keeper Sarah Shollenberger finished with five stops.

“We just couldn’t find the cage (in the second half),” Derr said.

Julia Healy and Catie Brubaker combined for three saves to get the shutout for Warwick.

Last Thursday, Warwick punched its ticket to the L-L League playoffs with a 2-1 victory over Section One rival Hempfield in Lititz.

Behn’s goal with 9;15 left was the game-winner, helping the Warwick girls sweep the season series from the Lady Knights. Back on Sept. 20, Warwick also won 2-1 in Landisville.

This time, Warwick’s Julia Eshleman opened the scoring at 1:19 of the second and Hempfield’s Kate Ayers tied it just over six minutes later.

It remained knotted until Behn put the ball behind Lady Knight keeper Alexa Pitts at 20:45 mark and then Warwick held on for the one-goal win. Grodzicki picked up an assist.

For the game, Warwick had a slim edge in both shots (4-3) and corners (3-2). Brubaker finished with two stops between the pipes.