The last Saturday before the beginning of the high school field hockey season has traditionally been playday in the midstate.
Several teams converge on a couple of fields and teams scrimmage for several hours. It’s a final workout for officials, and for players who will need to start fitting school into their daily routines next week.
On Saturday, the fields were at Susquehanna Township, and the visiting squads were Mifflin County, Kutztown and Forbes Road.
'Hanna coach Jessica Reitzel was pleased with her team's performance on Saturday. Especially the play of her underclassmen.
"We have a young team, and communication is a problem," she said. "But I was very happy to see some of our underclassmen score goals today. I wasn't expecting that."
This was Susquehanna Township's first play day, and Reitzel was happy with the outcome.
"It came about because we were looking for something on turf instead of grass and we didn't necessarily want to play against other teams in our division before the season started," she said. "I sent out invitations to a number of schools and the first ones to respond got in."
Susquehanna Township opens its Mid-Penn season at CD East on Friday. Mifflin County doesn’t get its start until Sept. 2 when it plays at Carlisle.