Tuesday night’s field hockey game between the Zephyrs and Konkrete Kids in Northampton had major postseason implications for both teams. The K-Kids were looking to lock down the EPC’s fourth seed to host a quarterfinal game. Whitehall came in on the playoff bubble at 6-6-2 overall and 5-4-2 in the EPC.

Northampton had the advantage in shots on goal 20-4 and had 13 corners to none for Whitehall, but thanks to stellar work in goal by Lily Trocki and an offense the capitalized on their opportunities, the Zephyrs came away with a 3-2 win.

Both head coaches lauded Whitehall’s junior keeper. Northampton’s Carrie Saul noted, “She played phenomenal tonight. Any other goalie, we could have put a lot (of goals) on. She’s good. Had strong clears. Our two goals were second and third efforts that she just didn’t see.”

The Zephs’ Gabi Smith praised Trocki, “She was so quick on her feet today, covered her angles so nicely. The whole season she’s been a huge asset back in that goal cage. In this game she did an amazing job being alert to where the ball was and had strong clears coming out. We needed her in that cage.”

The two teams finished the first half in a 0-0 tie, but there were plenty of fireworks in the second 30 minutes.

Whitehall’s Kerigan Dreisbach scored 3:51 into the third quarter as she got in behind the K-Kids’ back line. Northampton converted a corner at the 6:40 mark when Grace Roberts knocked home an assist by Raegan Iasiello to knot the score at 1 going to the last period.

Molly McFetridge gave the lead to the Zephyrs when she teamed up with Dreisbach to score with 9:42 left in the game. McFetridge scored an unassisted goal that proved to be the game winner with 6:25 on the clock in the fourth.

Ella Steirer, assisted by Lauren Reznick, scored with 19 seconds left for the K-Kids, but the timer ran out on Northampton’s frantic effort to tie.

The win (unofficially) clinched berths in both the EPC and district tournaments for Whitehall. They have one EPC game left – against Nazareth on Thursday. A win over Nazareth would give them the sixth seed in EPCs and put them at the loser of Thursday’s game between Parkland and Easton on Saturday. A loss would mean a tie with Stroudsburg for the 6/7 seed and a needed tiebreaker determination.

Northampton’s regular season is done. They will play Nazareth on Saturday as either the 4th or 5th seed, depending on the result of the aforementioned game between the Zephyrs and Blue Eagles. If Whitehall wins, the Kids will host the EPC quarterfinal game.