Pine-Richland field hockey places 7 on WPIAL All-Star teams

By: Kevin Lohman
Friday, November 15, 2019 | 5:07 PM

Collectively, the Pine-Richland field hockey team earned a number of significant achievements this season. The Rams went undefeated in WPIAL play, won the program’s second WPIAL championship by defeating Peters Township, 2-0, in the Class AAA title game and qualified for the PIAA championship tournament.

Now, a number of Rams have racked up their own individual accomplishments as a result. On Nov. 7, the WPIAL Field Hockey Coaches Association released their WPIAL All-Star teams for Division I, and no program listed as many players as Pine-Richland.

The Rams had seven of their players named WPIAL All-Stars, with Ava Loskoch and Ella Rottinghaus being named first-teamers and Abby Baratka, Elaina Camino, Keegan Kline and Alexa Sharron receiving second-team honors. Heidi Van Dyk was recognized on the honorable mention team.

The list marked the second consecutive year Loskoch and Rottinghaus earned first-team status. Loskoch is a senior and will continue her field hockey career at Allegheny next year.

Rottinghaus was one of only four juniors to make first-team.

Both were crucial to their team’s success this year, according to their coach.

“They led us in important stat categories. Ella had the most points on the team with nine goals and 13 assists, and Ava had the most goals on the team with 11, and she also had three assists,” coach Donna Stephenson said.

“Ella is an outstanding player, and we’re thankful that we’re going to get her back for another year. Ava is a defensive mid, but she scored from quite a few of our penalty corners. She’s just a threat that other teams always have to account for.”

This also marks Camino and Sharron’s second consecutive season receiving second-team honors. Camino, a junior defensive player, is set to return next season. Sharron will head to Christopher Newport, where she will play field hockey.

Sharron also shared the captaincy of the Rams this season with senior Van Dyk. Stephenson said the two functioned as the glue players who kept the team running smoothly.

Kline, a senior, served as a defensive player and was a fixture in the Rams’ starting lineup for the past three seasons. She will continue her career at Slippery Rock. Classmate Baratka in net, according to her coach, allowing just two goals to WPIAL opponents during the course of the season.

Tags: Pine-Richland