Palmyra recently beat Warwick 2-0 in a rematch of the 2025 District 3 Class AA final. Photo: Bob Benscoter
Warwick made Palmyra work for this one.
A year after falling 5–0 to the Cougars, Warwick stayed in a far tighter District 3 Class AA championship rematch, giving up just two goals in a game shaped by transitions, defensive stands and the pressure to make the next possession count.
Palmyra won 2–0 to defend its title, but this was no repeat of last year’s runaway. Warwick created chances from penalty corners and turned a late first-half defensive save into a breakaway.
The Cougars answered by pressing high, anticipating passes, and relying on teammates to cover the space behind them.
“If I’m seeing a slow transfer, if I know that the defender is not going to pass a strong ball, like I know to go,” Maddy Waldron said. “And I know that my two other forwards and the mids behind me will have my back if I go.”
That trust helped Palmyra navigate a physical, back-and-forth contest in which winning possession was only the beginning. Both teams had to move the ball out of pressure before the other could close in.
Warwick earned two first-quarter penalty corners, including one in the final minute, but could not find the opening goal. The teams entered the second quarter scoreless.
Allie Fink broke the tie with 13:30 remaining in the second quarter. A Palmyra passing sequence produced her unassisted goal and a 1–0 lead.
“I ran a lot,” Fink said.
Warwick kept pushing after Fink’s goal, earning penalty corners at 10:34 and 9:57 and trying aerials on both. Late in the half, a defensive save helped launch a Warwick breakaway, but the chance did not produce an equalizer.
Palmyra’s athletes said preparation helped them withstand those threats. Its defensive penalty corner unit had worked on Warwick’s aerial attempts, drawing on film, and previous meetings.
“We were just ready for that, our goalies were ready for that,” Leigha Kane said. “Our defensive corner unit has worked so hard this week.”
Palmyra carried its one-goal advantage into halftime and resumed its high press to open the third quarter. After the teams traded early penalty corners, the Cougars scored again with 7:13 left in the quarter to make it 2–0.
Grace Frew scored on a field goal, which started off as a penalty corner. The corner ended once the offense lost the ball outside the broken circle. The pass was off its mark and went into space, where Fink worked the ball back into the circle from the left.
It was touched three times. Frew was the finishing touch assisted by Waldron.
The warning cards and physical play demanded composure as much as execution. In their postgame interview, Palmyra’s players described the need to stop getting in their own heads and return to playing together.
“We improved as the game went on,” Kane said.
The Cougars also credited the work beyond the player carrying the ball — the forwards supporting a press, the midfielders backing them up, and the defenders preparing for the next change of possession.
“It’s a team game, but everyone has their own job,” captain Maddie Stahl said, who is recovering from an ACL injury.
Photos from the Palmyra vs. Warwick Game
Warwick did not let the second goal open the floodgates. It held Palmyra scoreless through the fourth quarter and generated a scoring opportunity with 2:39 remaining, keeping the contest alive even as time ran short.
For the Cougars, defending the championship added another layer of motivation.
“We faced them last year, and we wanted to defend our title,” Kane said.
And, they did.
Warwick, however, left with a different result from a year ago: still a shutout loss, still a silver medal, but a much closer contest against the same opponent.
“They were better than us today, but we're going to watch video and we're going to work really hard to get back to it again,” Warwick head coach Ron Stief said. “Our corners, we were really close. And, if the first quarter corners go in, I think it might be a different game for us. That's taking nothing away from an incredibly well-coached, talented team. I just think we needed that impetus. We needed that punch early on to pick us up a little bit. They were tough.”
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