By Kenny Varner

STATE COLLEGE- On a dark rainy night, two rivals took to the field hockey field to do battle.

Mifflin County traveled up the Seven Mountains to take on State College at Memorial Stadium in the heart of State College.

Hosting a Think Pink game, the Little Lions were consistent throughout the night despite a strong defensive effort by the Lady Huskies defensive backline, winning 4-0.

Mifflin County goalie Maddie Norman reached the 200-save plateau for the Huskies as she was very active on the night posting 14 saves on the evening.

State College held the advantage in shots by a 22-8 margin and led in penalty corners 18-3.

State College’s Ella Tambroni finished her night with a 2-goal effort along with a co-save.

Picking up the other two goals for the Lady Little Lions were Maggie Li and Lanie Herlocher.

Mifflin County was stingy on the defensive end, despite the loss.

As well as Norman’s feisty effort, the Lady Huskies got strong defensive stops from its entire backline.

“They (Mifflin County) played wonderful. I couldn’t be prouder of the way they played tonight, honestly,” said Mifflin County coach Brittany Mathews. “It was just a tough game where we didn’t score that’s it. The last couple games they played exactly how I wanted them to play the entire season. So, I can’t be mad at them when they go out and play with heart.”

Mifflin County took the opening possession and drove down the field into the State College end of the field. Mifflin County’s Tish Fultz took the first shot on goal which was saved by a strong save by the Little Lions goalie.

State College stopped the drive and drove down into the Huskies area.

At 10:30 left in the opening period, State College got on the scoreboard for the first time. Lanie Herlocher caught a double pass from Ella Tambroni and Addie Gagnon and sent it to the back of the box, making it a 1-0 advantage.

Both defenses finished both the rest of the first quarter as well as the second leaving both scoreless as the  two teams went into the intermission, with a 1-0 contest.

Coming out of the half, the Little Lions struck early when Tambroni notched her first goal on an unassisted goal at 12:48.

But the spunky MIfflin County defense again limited State College to the lone second half goal as the two went into the final stanza, 2-0.

As the fourth got underway, the Little Lions scored early for an insurance goal.

This time, Tambroni got an assist from Herlocher at 14:30 to make it a 3-goal advantage.

With time running down in the fourth,  Maggie Li scored the final goal of the night as she posted a goal with the assist from Gagnon, 6:05.

Mifflin County battled throughout the final stanza but weren’t able to pick up a goal.

In the JV contest, the two teams finished tied at three.

State College 4, MIfflin County 0

MC  0000 -0

SC   1012 – 4

Scoring:

First quarter

SC – Lanie Herlocher from Ella Tambroni/Addie Gagnon, 10:36.

Second Quarter

None.

Third Quarter

SC – Tambroni unassisted, 12:48.

Fourth quarter

SC – Tambroni from Herlocher, 14:30.

SC – Maggie Li from Gagnon, 6:05.

Shots on goal: SC – 22, MC – 8

Corners – SC – 18, MC – 3.

Saves – Maddie Norman (MC) 14,  Sam Burdo (SC) 3.