Fox Chapel captures elusive WPIAL field hockey title

By: Ted Sarneso
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 | 8:54 PM

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The only thing to match the torrential rain at the WPIAL Class 2A field hockey championship game at North Allegheny was the relentless force of the Fox Chapel attack.

The No. 2-seeded Foxes (13-3-3) rode a strong wave of offensive pressure to a 2-0 victory over top seed Peters Township (13-3-2) on Wednesday.

The win marked the first title for Fox Chapel after appearing in the Class 2A final five times in the last six years.

“This senior class has been to the title game four years in a row and lost each time,” Foxes coach Kellee Cribby said. “They were on a mission to get the win tonight, and you could tell by the effort and the way they played.”

Added junior forward Melanie Pietz: “It feels euphoric. Being with these seniors for three years, we’ve developed a bond, and to come away with a win for them is beautiful and something I can’t describe.”

Pietz opened the scoring for the Foxes at 4:15 of the first quarter.

Fox Chapel pushed down the left side of the Peters defense, and a shot bounced of goalkeeper Julia Anderson and landed on the stick of Pietz, who put it into the net.

“The ball was coming right to me, and I was determined to put it into the net,” Pietz said. “It lifted and went into the net. Scoring within the first five minutes, that was fast, and I’ve never felt so many emotions before at one time.”

From that point, Fox Chapel continued to apply pressure to the Peters Township defense, a 180-degree turnaround from last year’s championship match that was a defensive battle.

“We told our girls, if you get a goal in the first five minutes, you control the game,” Peters coach Kelly Meenan said. “Fox Chapel came out hard, and we were scrambling. We had our opportunities but came up empty.”

Said Pietz: “We dominated, we prepared and came out strong. We knew what we did wrong the last few times we played them, and we practiced as hard as we could.”

Fox Chapel’s attack led to eight total penalty corners, five in a row in the second quarter. The Foxes outshot the Indians, 5-0, in the first half and 9-7 in the game.

On their final penalty corner of the half, with no time left on the clock, junior defenseman Catelyn Pastoor was again on the Peters doorstep. After the pass came in and was fired toward the goal, Anderson made a great left-leg save, but Pastoor knocked it in to give her team a 2-0 halftime lead.

“I blacked out and was so confused,” Pastoor said. “I felt the ball hit my stick, but didn’t realize it went in. I was so excited when my teammates came running at me.”

The win was the second for the Foxes over Peters this season. The teams each had a win, loss and a draw in their regular-season series.

“It’s awesome,” Cribby said. “We battled with them for the section all year, and they won by a tiebreaker. It’s great to come out and get the result we did.”

Added Pastoor: “We have been close with them all season. We knew this was going to be a close game coming in. Knowing we beat them before gave us the confidence to come in and win tonight.”

In the second half, Peters Township amped up its pressure on Fox Chapel while trying to claw back into the game.

It appeared the Indians had scored a goal with 2:40 left in the game when Eliza Muehlbauer sneaked one past Maggie Klamut.

But after a lengthy discussion, the referees waived off the goal, ruling Peters Township had too many players on the field.

“I disagreed with that,” Meenan said. “I said she came on the field after the goal was scored, but they felt otherwise. That changed the game, because who knows what would have happened after that.”

The Foxes will enjoy the win but know there is still work to be done as they prepare for the PIAA tournament.

“It’s not over,” Pietz said. “We know what we have to do, and we’ll get back at it tomorrow and next week in practice. We’ll see what we can do better from this game, because we weren’t perfect.”

Tags: Fox Chapel, Peters Township