Etienne Dillman, Bri Buckwalter score in 3-0 Conestoga Valley shutout against Elizabethtown
The Buckskins beat the Bears 3-0 Tuesday at Elizabethtown. Photo: Bob Benscoter
Conestoga Valley’s Etienne Dillman had no idea how she scored two goals and assisted on a third in the Buckskins 3-0 shutout Tuesday.
Her 12 years of experience playing field hockey shows. At the heart of her game, she said, is the need to be part of a team.
The Buckskins had a great season last year but didn’t make it to the 2024 postseason, unlike their opponent Elizabethtown, which made it to the 2024 PIAA quarterfinals.
Conestoga Valley and Elizabethtown went into the game Tuesday both undefeated.
With it being the first Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 competition of the season, Dillman said they continue their “undefeatedness,” which will carry them into the next game.
“For us, this is the first Section 2 game, and right now we are undefeated in our non-section games,” Dillman said. “And so then taking this, like, our undefeatedness, into our section play, is like super exciting because we know we can win a lot of our games, if not all of our games. And this just gives us confidence at the beginning.”
The Buckskins have nearly an identical roster to last year’s. The experience gained last year, despite it not being the outcome they were seeking, is what they are relying on to go further this season.
Conestoga Valley were successful executing quick passes, which made them a second faster to the ball against Elizabethtown. They were scanning the field, using the seams, moving the ball, and not running their legs.
A majority of 19 shots on goal were a combination of a Buckskins smashing the ball into the circle from the broken, or just outside the circle, and then having at least two to three players patiently waiting for the reception.
“Yeah, we talk about keeping at least one girl high and in the circle and others outside ready to cut to the ball,” Dillman said. “It benefits us because a lot of the time it, like, it draws girls out to the person with the ball and then gives a lot of space for the girls to get through. And also the ball is always faster than our legs. So if we can get the ball through quickly, like, we have a lot of the girls beat.”
Dillman added: “I felt like we had a really good game, and we were doing a lot of picking each other up, even if we were frustrated with a shot that wasn't going in.”
Walking back her thoughts on the first goal, she said she tested both the goalie and the flyer. She wanted to read where the spaces in the cage were and to see how fast the flyer was.
She dodged and weaved through traffic to find the cage for her first goal. Her second goal was in the third. The Buckskins were able to score one goal in each quarter.
Bri Buckwalter, also a sophomore, said she, too, couldn’t remember how she scored. She and Dillman laughed after the game agreeing they are all about shooting their shot. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
“Honestly, I just shot it as hard as I could,” Buckwalter said. “I would definitely say we’re passing, inside-outside passing. We got a lot better at that because I knew where my teammates were and I could see that, oh, Emily was inside and I passed right inside and then I was right back out for another pass. I would say that definitely helped us get some opportunities in the circle.”
Conestoga Valley have allowed six goals on the season, and have scored 27 goals. They have a mindset that they don’t want to allow anyone a win.
“We want to make it to postseason, honestly,” Buckwalter said. “We just want to make it to districts and leagues. We haven't made it in a couple years, so that's one of our goals, and we know we can do it, especially based on how we've been working together recently. We know we can do it, and we're going to do it for each other and with each other.”
Kelly Dearolf, in her eighth year as head coach of Conestoga Valley, had a lot of positive things to say about her team. She didn’t graduate any seniors from last year.
“They know the game more after playing a whole season together,” Dearolf said. “And I only have three seniors now, so we're still young, but we're more experienced after having a whole season together and having the same people back out on the field. I would say this team, that's one of our strengths. They don't get in their own heads. They're mentally strong and mentally strong together.”
When describing their style of play, Dearolf spoke proudly of how they are flowing.
“They're good at passing the ball and then moving into a space and their teammates know where they're going even without sometimes talking…they find each other like they know where each other's at and that's what's nice about their ball movement, is they work their way down and up the field together, instead of just relying on one person to do the job. It’s very cool. I mean they're just great kids and it's been an absolute joy to coach this team so far this season.”
Elizabethtown broke into the PIAA postseason last year. They were able to prevent the Buckskins from scoring in the fourth, a late lesson learned.
“We didn't start out as strong, but we progressed and we really started connecting our passes,” Bears head coach Rebecca Brown said. “We stayed in the fight, even though we were losing. They took it a little hard. But we know that losses happen. So we always talk about how do you bounce back. And they're ready to bounce back because they have lots of games this week. We know we have to work on some ball movement and they're ready. They already addressed it in our after game talk. So that's what we'll be working on tomorrow. I'm just excited to see what they can do.”
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