Falcons keep PIHL playoff hopes alive with 9-2 road win
The Connellsville hockey team positioned themselves for the PIHL D2 Division playoffs Tuesday night with a season-ending 9-2 road victory over Trinity.
The Falcons (9-9-0-0-1) jumped over Elizabeth Forward into fourth place in the Blue Division with 19 points.
Elizabeth Forward (9-9-0-0-0) needs a victory at Burrell Thursday to secure the fourth playoff position. Connellsville holds the tiebreaker after sweeping the two-game season series.
Connellsville pulled away with six goals in the second period.
TJ Snyder’s goal just over two minutes into the second period gave Connellsville a 3-0 lead. However, Cale Bitz responded 15 seconds later to pull Trinity (3-16-0-0-0) to 3-1.
The Falcons’ Evan Sokol got the goal back at 3:48. Ian Zerecheck increased the lead to 5-1 with a goal at 6:43.
Trinity’s Hayden Gatewood scored at 8:09, but Zerecheck netted his third goal of the game just 38 seconds later.
Jesse Hodge and Sam Denny added goals to give Connellsville an 8-2 lead heading into the third period.
Hodge scored the lone goal of the third period.
Hunter Garlick scored a power play goal and Zerecheck added a short-handed goal to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Connellsville’s Nick Daniels-Nimick stopped 21 shots in the victory. Trinity’s Kirsten Lallone turned aside 39 shots.
Girls basketball
North Catholic 42, Elizabeth Forward 34 – The second-seeded Trojanettes outscored Elizabeth Forward in the middle two quarters, 28-11, and then held on for a victory in the WPIAL Class AAAA semifinals at Fox Chapel.
The third-seeded Lady Warriors (21-3) will host Laurel Highlands Thursday night in the third-place consolation game.
North Catholic (16-7) faces Blackhawk in the WPIAL Class AAAA title game on Saturday.
North Catholic led 13-12 after the first quarter. Both teams scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Kaelynn Settles led Elizabeth Forward with 14 points. Alyssa Terza scored 11.
North Catholic’s Lauren Reitz scored a game-high 16 points. Alayna Rocco finished with 15 points.