DALLAS TWP. — Wyoming Valley West gave up an early goal to Hazleton Area’s Bella Boyle, the school’s all-time leading scorer, on Monday night.

The Spartans then went about erasing the deficit and Hazleton Area’s offense as well.

Ava Mullery assisted the tying score and then scored two in a row as Valley West defeated Hazleton Area 4-1 for the District 2 Class 3A field hockey championship at Dallas High School.

“Hanging in there,” Valley West coach Lois Krause said. “They caught us off guard in the first quarter and it took us a little bit to answer back and play our game.”

Valley West (11-4-2) won its fourth consecutive D2-3A championship. The Spartans will host the District 1 fifth seed in the first round of the PIAA 3A playoffs on Nov. 10. They’ve been eliminated in the first round of states the past two years.

“This team is ready,” Krause said. “This team is pretty much the same girls as last year. We had to replace a couple and they’ve felt the feeling from last year and are ready to go a little further.”

Hazleton Area (9-10-1) was seeking its first district title since 2021 and got off to a good start. Boyle settled a left corner from Addison Bobrowski at the top of the circle and rocketed in a grounder for a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.

Valley West, though, regrouped on both ends of the field. The Spartans tied the score at 6:56 of the second quarter when Chelsea Hummel followed up a shot by Mullery that deflected off the pads of Hazleton Area goalie Jas Pena.

“Honestly, the attitude we’ve learned to have is if they want to go hard we’re going to go harder,” Mullery said. “We showed that immediately with a three-goal lead against them. We never really gave up and made sure to keep everyone motivated and happy and know this wasn’t over.”

Hazleton Area didn’t have any strong offensive opportunities in the middle quarters. Boyle, who scored her 100th career goal early in the season, was often swarmed when she had the ball. While her stick work allowed her to make some inroads, the Cougars had trouble generating a sustained attack.

Mullery broke the 1-1 stalemate at 9:15 of the third quarter, following up a shot by Charlotte Yelen. The same combination struck again early in the fourth quarter, with Yelen sending a pass inside to Mullery.

Yelen assisted Avery Brennan with the game’s final goal about three minutes later.

District 2 Class 3A Championship

Wyo. Valley West 4, Hazleton Area 1

Hazleton Area`1`0`0`0 — 1

Wyo. Valley West`0`1`1`2 — 4

First: 1. HA, Bella Boyle (Addison Bobrowski), 11:20; Second: 2. WVW, Chelsea Hummel (Ava Mullery), 6:56; Third: 3. WVW, Mullery (Charlotte Yelen), 9:15; Fourth: 4. WVW, Mullery (Yelen), 14:10; 5. Avery Brennan (Yelen), 11:11.

Shots: HA 9, WVW 17. Saves: HA 3 (Jas Pena), WVW 8 (Kaylah Sewell). Corners: HA 6, WVW 7.