Warwick blanks Northern York, wins PIAA Class 2A field hockey championship

MECHANICSBURG — Sometimes, even winning is not enough. There are occasions when a team feels a collective need to dominate.

The thoroughness of Warwick’s 4-0 victory over Northern York in the PIAA Class 2A field hockey championship game Saturday afternoon did not make the trophy or medals any larger, but it did give the Warriors a sense of achievement they had been seeking for a long time.

Longer than when junior captain Karys Craver said neither she nor her teammates wanted to remove “runner-up” from their names. Even longer than when they were knocked out of the state semifinals last fall.

Their mission went back years, to when this core group of players first took the field together.

“We came in, knowing we won against them before, and we had to come in thinking to dominate, because anything less would have given them an opportunity to stay in the game,” Craver said. “We wanted to close out with our seniors. Dominance is what we’ve been thinking of since seventh grade.”

Warriors celebrate with the PIAA championship trophy. ⁦@WarwickWarriors⁩ pic.twitter.com/IggD2uT7a6

— Bruce Morgan (@BruceMorgan8) November 16, 2024

That dominance started early, and it was Craver who set it up. Her pass from the top of the circle put Bree Zoccolo in position to score the opening goal just 1:54 into the contest.

“Going in, we said we need to score first to knock them off their feet a little bit,” Craver said. “They knew us some from playing us before (in the District Three final). We knew their energy would be high, so scoring first would knock them down a bit.”

Zoccolo, a senior who had more than 100 goals in her career, also assisted on the second goal for Warwick (25-2). She passed to Kenzie Ellis, who hit the back of the cage with 6:16 left in the opening quarter.

What hope the Polar Bears (22-4) still had was taken away by Taylor Hess. On a corner with 3:09 left in the first half, Hess took a solid shot directly off of Annalaye Glenn’s insert to push the lead out to 3-0.

“We try to run a set play, but if something goes wrong, a mishandle or a slow insert, we have to adjust.” Hess said of the corners. “But the decision is made beforehand.”

The last goal for the Warriors was scored by Calli Martin with 13:37 left in the fourth period, clinching Warwick’s first state title since 2000, and the fourth in program history.

Warwick’s domination was just has strong on the defensive side of the field. Warwick kept Northern from getting a shot on goal for the first 20 minutes of the game, and from getting a corner for the first 40 minutes.

Warriors goalie Taryn Toburen, who surpassed 200 career saves in her final scholastic game, twice stopped Olivia Anderson from getting Northern on the board — and from getting her 100th career goal. Toburen made a kick save on Anderson in the second quarter, and she stopped another Anderson shot with 30 seconds left in the contest.

Toburen had seven saves overall.

Warwick, which beat Northern 4-1 for the District Three championship two weeks ago, had 15 shots on goal and 13 corners in Saturday’s rematch. Northern had seven shots on goal and three corners.

Polar Bears goalie Lauryn Hose made nine saves. Tori Snyder and Hanna Thomas each had defensive saves behind her.