Mifflin County FH battles Buffaloes, falls in nail biter

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: September 25, 2023

By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – To be the best, you have to play the best and the MIfflin County girls field hockey team did just that Monday, welcoming in a legendary Newport program who is currently 8-1 on the season.

The young Huskies played the Buffalos tough and even outplayed them in the second and third quarter throughout but ended up falling 3-1 in a nail biter.

“This is the reoccurring theme of our season. we’ve dominated most of our games if you look at shots on goals or if you look at the time that we spent in our offensive set,” MIfflin County coach Brittany Wilcox. “We’re working on it. I’m hoping we still have a lot of games to play that we are really going to be able to lcapitalize on a couple games we have here. But the girls played Hearst today. I’m really proud.”

In the first quarter, Newport wasted little time in posting its first goal.

Facing a corner opportunity, the Lady Buffaloes got the ball to Mackenna Buffington and after a little battle by the Huskies defensive backfield, but was resilient posting a goal at 12:55.

Both defenses, tightened up and closed ranks, keeping the scoreboard empty of anymore goals in the period.

Mifflin County started to push the Buffaloes defense early in the second quarter, posting a shot and an early corner opportunity.

Mifflin County dominated play in the second quarter as they outshot the Buffaloes 7-0 in the period and notched two corner opportunities.

However, Newport still held onto the 1-0 advantage going into the third stanza.

In the third, MIfflin County continued to put the pressure on Newport. Despite a couple of breakaways, the Buffaloes were stopped cold by the defensive prowess of the Lady Huskies.

Halfway through the quarter, the Huskies Brynn Rowe broke away from the defense and dished a pass off to teammate Addie Fultz. Fultz blasted a shot but was fouled in the circle, resulting in a penalty shot opportunity.

However, the shot was a little high, keeping things at 1-0.

With seconds left in the third, the Buffaloes scored off of a corner opportunity, upping it to a 2-0 advantage. The shot came from Callyn Maxey.

Mifflin County found an opening early in the final period. During a corner, Alleigh Caruso caught a rebound off the Newport goalie and lifted up a shot to the left corner, cutting to a 2-1 contest with 12.52 left.

Newport put the contest on ice in the final seconds of the fourth on a breakaway by Buffington.

Newport 3, Mifflin County 1

NE – 1 0 1 1 -3

MC – 0 0 0 1 – 1

Scoring

First quarter

NE – Mackenna Buffington unassisted, 12:55.

Third quarter

NE – Callyn Maxey unassisted, 0:00

Fourth quarter

MC – Alleigh Caruso unassisted, 12:52.

NE – Buffington unassisted, :37