On their own, with the pure stick handling and scoring skills each of them showed so consistently you’d swear it was all natural, they were just dynamic.

Together, they were dynamite.

Fast friends, two-time state champions and phenomenal field hockey players Hannah Maxwell and Alex Wesneski made a high school career leaning on each other to get to the top. And stay there.

The whole Wyoming Valley West team leaned on Rina Tsioles.

So perhaps it’s fitting that the 2019 Times Leader tri-players of the year, who were all teammates in the Wyoming Valley West grade school system during their younger years, stand together at the top of the state after leading their teams to PIAA titles.

In the end, Tsioles’ electric play stood out.

With lightning in her stick and fire in her heart, the 4-foot-11 dynamo almost single-handedly delivered Valley West its second-ever PIAA Class 2A championship and first in 16 years.

She was named the National Field Hockey Coaches Assosciation Player of the Month for November after making a steal and delivering the winning assist in a 2-1 victory over Palmyra in the state title game, where Tsioles was named the game’s most valuable player. That came after she hit the go-ahead goal in a 3-1 victory over Villa Maria during the state semifinals.

Heading to play at Old Dominion, Tsioles had eight goals and four assists during the regular season and scored two goals with two assists in six postseason games. But her impact can’t be measured by numbers. She ran rampant moving the ball through the PIAA playoffs and her stick kept showing up at the most critical times.

It was at crunch time when Maxwell and Wesneski fed off each other.

They played tag team in two of the biggest moments that sent Wyoming Seminary to a third straight PIAA Class A title game for the first time in the program’s illustrious field hockey history and gave the Blue Knights a second consecutive state championship for only the second time.

The first came in the state quarterfinals, when Maxwell charged into the circle, was fouled by Greenwood’s goalie, and drew a penalty stroke in overtime. Of course, Wesneski finished it up, ripping the stroke into the cage to lift Sem to a thrilling 4-3 victory.

The second came with a title on the line.

When the state championship game went into a scoreless overtime, the dynamic duo struck again. Maxwell intercepted a possession deep in Oley Valley’s end and took it all the way down the field into the circle before drawing a corner. Naturally, it was Wesneski who ripped a pass to the post that led to the winning goal.

Those moments put the finishing touches on two spectacular careers that wrapped the 700th career victory for Sem coach Karen Klassner in a third straight District 2 championship win; a 30-game home winning streak at Klassner Field; and a third straight state final appearance for the first time in school history, ending with back-to-back PIAA gold medals.

They had more golden moments, of course.

Both reached 100 career goals during the season. Maxwell, who will play for Wake Forest next year, led the WVC Division 1 with 56 points and 22 goals during the league season. Wesneski, headed to play at Iowa, was fourth with 35 points and 12 goals. In the playoffs, they were 1-2, with Wesneski leading the Blue Knights with 19 points and five assists and Maxwell finishing with eight goals and 18 points.

But any teammate of Tsioles, Wesneski and Maxwell will will readily agree.

It’d be hard to get to No. 1 without them.

CAMERYN FORGASH

Wyoming Valley West

Junior, Forward

An electric season finished with a flourish for Forgash as she scored the winning goal in the state finals to give Valley West the PIAA Class 2A title with a 2-1 victory over Palmyra. She also hit the first goal of a 3-1 victory over Northern York in the state semifinals and finished with two goals and three assists in six postseason games. Before that, she finished second in the WVC Division 1 with 42 points, 14 goals and 14 assists in 13 WVC games.

OLIVIA GAYOSKI

Wyoming Valley West

Junior, Back

The hustling defender was a big part of a Valley West defense that clamped down on opponents all season while allowing more than two goals in a game just once. That defense surrendered just four goals during the league season and six all year. In 25 games, 18 opponents were held to one goal or less and the Spartans rode into the state semifinals with eight straight shutouts and 12 shutouts in 14 games.

MIA MAGNOTTA

Wyoming Seminary

Junior, Goalie

Magnotta was spectacular in goal in the PIAA Class A state title game while turning away all nine shots she faced in regulation and overtime to deliver a 1-0 victory over Oley Valley and back-to-back state titles for the Blue Knights for the first time in Sem’s illustrious history. The Iowa commit finished with 11 shutouts overall after posting a .918 save percentage during the regular season, then stopped all 13 shots she faced during Sem’s third straight District 2 Class A title run. For the postseason, Magnotta turned away 32 shots on 36 attempts in seven playoff games for a save percentage of .888.

TONI MINICHELLO

Wyoming Area

Sophomore, Forward

The biggest goals of Wyoming Area’s season kept coming off the stick of Minichello, whose shot lifted the Warriors to a 1-0 victory over Boiling Springs in the PIAA Class A quarterfinals and lifted the school to its first state semifinal game. Minichello also had the winning overtime goals against Lake-Lehman in a District 2 semifinal game and against Wyoming Valley West near the end of the regular season. She scored five goals with two assists in six playoff games after scoring five goals with nine assists during the regular season.

LAUREN PARENTE

Wyoming Area

Senior, Forward

A fantastic final field hockey season for Parente was highlighted by her 100th career goal and Wyoming Area’s first-ever trip to the state semifinals. A natural scorer, Parente finished second in the WVC Division 1 with 13 goals and her 29 points were sixth in Division 1. She helped Wyoming Area start its playoff run with a hat trick in a District 2-opening 9-0 victory over Nanticoke Area.

GRACE PARSONS

Wyoming Seminary

Junior, Back

Nobody could have guessed the only goal Parsons scored this year would be the biggest of Sem’s season, but the shot that lifted the Blue Knights to a 1-0 overtime victory over Oley Valley and to a second consecutive state title for the first time in school history came off the stick of one of the league’s most versatile players. Parsons began this season as a defender, then was switched to a midfielder. From both spots, she helped Sem record 11 shutouts and keep opponents to one goal or less 18 times.

ARI RUPNIK

Wyoming Valley West

Senior, Forward

A transfer student from Germany, Rupnik spent one year as a difference-maker for Valley West while leading the Spartans to history. She scored six goals and had four assists in six postseason games, hitting the tying goal in a 2-1 victory over Palmyra that gave Valley West its first-ever PIAA Class 2A title. A natural defender, Rupnik assisted on the winning goal in the state quarterfinals and secured a 3-1 victory over Villa Maria with the final goal of the PIAA semis. She had two goals and two assists in a 4-0 District 2-opening win that led the Spartans toward their fourth straight district title. During the regular season, Rupnik led the WVC Division 1 with 16 assists, finished third with 40 points and tied for fourth with 12 goals before getting a goal or an assist in all six Valley West playoff games.

JOLENE ULICHNEY

Wilkes-Barre Area

Senior, Forward

So respected around the league was Ulichney, Wyoming Seminary invited her over to help prepare for the state title game. It’s easy to see why. She just missed making the WVC Division 1’s top 10 with eight goals and wound up tied for eighth in the conference with eight assists, but her value as a leader and playmaker was critical to the success of the first-year Wilkes-Barre Area jointure. In a season of first for a Wolfpack team that banded together players from Coughlin, Meyers and GAR, Ulichney scored the first goal of the season, the first goal of the postseason and the first-ever state goal for Wilkes-Barre Area. She also led the Wolfpack to its first District 2 Class 3A title and first PIAA appearance.

COACHES OF THE YEAR

LINDA FITHIAN

Wyoming Valley West

In what may be one of her finest coaching jobs over a long and distinguished career, Fithian built her second PIAA Class 2A title team by building a unity that’s often rare in high school sports. She constructed a defense that gave up just six goals all season while producing a fourth straight District 2 Class 2A title, shifted players and made adjustments to improve her team and turned a squad nobody expected to make much noise into a state champion. To find a perfect example of that, look no further than Ari Rupnik, a life-long defender and transfer student from Germany who Fithian had playing forward for the first time in her life and who transformed into the WVC’s assist leader and became a scoring machine in the playoffs. What she did for her players was worth more than its weight in state gold, because maybe most importantly, Fithian made it all fun for the Spartans.

KAREN KLASSNER

Wyoming Seminary

It wasn’t just the winning that made Klassner’s season, although there was plenty of that again in a second straight state title year for her Blue Knights. It was the way the veteran coach made moving pieces fit seemlessly into a lineup that may have looked loaded by the end, but was hardly that at the beginning, that made her 48th season on the sideline so special. When Sem opened with freshmen filling key spots on the field and lost Division 1-bound star scorer Julia Gabriel to a knee injury a couple games after the opener, Klassner may have been a bit frantic. But she never panicked, and neither did her team during a third straight undefeated league season that turned into her eighth state championship. Along the way, Klassner picked up her 700th career coaching victory in a game where the Blue Knights won their third straight District 2 Class A title and won a second consecutive PIAA crown for the second time in school history. But the end result was only celebrated by the Blue Knights because of the means Klassner devised to get them there.

SECOND TEAM

Name`School`Grade`Position

Ella Barbacci`Wyoming Sem`Fr.`Forward

Jillian Bonczewski`Valley West`Sr.`Midfielder

Sydney Franchella`Northwest`Sr.`Forward

Sydney Rusnock`Valley West`Sr.`Goalie

Kayla Kiwak`Wyoming Area`Jr.`Forward

Bari Lefkowitz`Wyoming Sem`Sr.`Midfielder

Ava Radal`Lake-Lehman`Sr.`Midfielder

Abie Sorokas`Wilkes-Barre`Sr.`Forward

Ali Tedik`Wilkes-Barre`Sr.`Back

Emma Watchilla`Wyoming Sem`Fr.`Forward

Paige Williams`Valley West`So.`Forward

HONORABLE MENTION

Hazleton Area — Jill Buchman, Sr., F; Holy Redeemer — Addy Bielski, Jr., F. Lake-Lehman — Maddie Lasinski, Sr., F. Lackawanna Trail — Belle Coleman, Sr., F. Northwest — Milana Straub, Sr., F; Ariana Walker, Sr., F. Wyoming Area — Ellie Glatz, Sr., G; Kari Melberger, Sr., F; Mackenzie Switzer, So., Back. Wyoming Seminary — Dani Reiser, Sr., Back. Wyoming Valley West — Jenna Rovine, Sr., Back.

Maxwell headshot https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_Hannah-Maxwell-1-.jpg Maxwell headshot Wesneski headshot https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_IMG_1941.jpeg Wesneski headshot forgash headshot https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_IMG_1996.jpg forgash headshot Magnotta headshot https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_25AB6BBD-FBDB-493A-9168-1D2D2C462A81.jpg Magnotta headshot Tsioles headshot https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_IMG_2023-1-.jpg Tsioles headshot Rupnik action https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_wvw_cr3_faa.jpg Rupnik action Ulichney action https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL091119WBA-Dallas-FH_2.jpg Ulichney action Minichello action https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL102618FHWALL1.jpg Minichello action Forgash action https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_WVW-Villa-Maria-FH-5.jpg Forgash action Parsons action https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_sem_ov1_faa.jpg Parsons action Gayoski headshot https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_Olivia-Gayoski.jpg Gayoski headshot Parente headshot https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_image1-3-.jpeg Parente headshot Parente action https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL100118G-FH-WVW-WA4.jpg Parente action

A golden triple threat