Penn Manor’s Chloe Hook on winning District 3 Class 3A 3-2 vs. Mechanicsburg in double OT: ‘I didn’t want shootouts’
Penn Manor field hockey beat Mechanicsburg 3-2 in double overtime. Photo: Bob Benscoter
The Mechanicsburg girls field hockey team weren’t going to let Penn Manor just run away with a win in the 2025 District 3 Class 3A tournament.
So, the Wildcats, even though they wore white jerseys as the away team on their home turf for being the lower No. 4 seed, made the Comets, the higher ranked No. 2 seed and home team, earn the gold — in double overtime.
Penn Manor and Mechanicsburg were the third of three 2025 District 3 high school field hockey championship games played in Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Park in Mechanicsburg on Saturday. The Comets and Wildcats, respectively, play in Class 3A.
Penn Manor held onto a 2-0 lead until the third quarter, which is when the Wildcats were able to put a dent in the score and the Comets’ momentum.
As to be expected in a championship game, the Wildcats were hyper focused on trying to find the equalizer. It happened, on a corner, with 42 seconds left in regulation.
The first overtime flew by.
With 1:50 left to play in the first 10-minute period, Wildcat junior goalie Liz Schweighart had a sick two versus one save — a near miss for Penn Manor — that kept the game going.
Kelby Dings, who had already contributed to the Comets offensive power all game, was the one to put an end to the competition. Dings started the game with a chance to score early by collecting a ball inside the circle in the air after it bounced off the turf and then she fired off a rocket.
It hit the post.
Later during regulation, another shot that hit the post delayed the Comets second goal by a few seconds. They had Schweighart committed to her near side.
Both of Penn Manor’s goals were squeezed into the cage near post with not much room.
The Comets’ immediate goals before going into overtime were to not hit the post and to end the game before shootouts, the Hooks said.
“I was dribbling and I saw Morgan (Hook) — if I didn’t have a shot open,” Dings said. “And, then I pulled left and there was an open shot. So, I took it, and it went in.”
The shot ended the contest with a 3-2 score.
The senior Hook twins — Morgan and Chloe — repeated several times, after the game, and while giggling, “we didn’t want shootouts.”
“I definitely didn’t want us to go into shootouts because I don’t really know how that would end,” Chloe said laughing. “We were really working hard on the field. So, we really wanted to get it over with.”
Her lookalike agreed.
“I wasn’t expecting double overtime,” Morgan said. “I think maybe one overtime and shut it down quickly. I’ve never been in a double overtime.”
Part of the reason Penn Manor was still deeply feeling all the championship feels is that Mechanicsburg tapped into their corners.
The Wildcats earned three corners in a span of four minutes and continued to maintain possession. With 2:55 remaining in the second seven aside sudden victory overtime period, a yellow card was administered to Penn Manor for physical play.
On the next play, the Comets quickly read the Mechanicsburg pass, Dings took the ball, and ran it into the circle for the shot, goal, and win. She, too, had been carded earlier in the game.
Dings said receiving a card “is a challenge to be better.”
“I know that it was a stupid foul that I did myself,” she said. “So when I went back out there, I made sure that I wouldn’t do it again and just play better.”
The Hook twins supported Dings comment, adding that cards are part of the game, and that the 2025 Penn Manor team “rallies together.”
“We know we have each other’s backs,” Chloe said. “So if someone's angry or not playing their best, we have people behind us that will back us up and pick up our slack.”
That energy and support is what helped get them to the end of the District 3 tournament.
“They were taking us out of our normal passing that we normally do,” Mechanicsburg head coach Tonya Brown said. “They were taking that away and they were crowding one side and we weren't reversing the ball real well because they're so fast. They were so fast at making us make quick decisions. And once we settled in, I just felt like it was our game in the second half and it just could have gone either way.”
Schweighart was under pressure by extremely fast forward and mid attack lines. Her ability to manage her defense, as well as take the heat was commendable, Brown said.
“We can't ask for any more than that,” she said. “She had three shutouts in a row. This could have been the same situation. I really believe that we gave up two goals early that I truly believe our defense would normally have…but that fourth quarter and overtime, you can’t ask for anything more from her.”
The stress that Mechanicsburg put the Comets through during the overtime periods made the victory all the more sweeter, Penn Manor head coach Rachel Suter said. It was Suter’s first District 3 gold as head coach.
“We talked a lot about controlling the controllables, which is a lot of body language, what we're saying to each other,” she said. “And they do a really nice job of bringing themselves back to that, whether it's a coach reminder or a teammate reminder. I'm proud of how they overcame being up 2-0 and then battling a tied game and then overtime and another overtime. So I'm just really proud of their resilience.”
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