Mars climbs in national rankings after state championship victory

By: Greg Macafee
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 | 6:29 PM

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The Mars girls soccer team has had an exciting past couple of days.

On Saturday, the Fightin’ Planets defeated Villa Joseph Marie 1-0 in the PIAA Class AAA state championship game and captured their first state title since 2011.

Three days later, they found themselves among the top 15 teams in the country according to TopDrawerSoccer.com. They moved up nine spots from a week ago and settled in at No. 15. They were also named the third-best team in the Mid-Atlantic region and the No. 1 team in Pennsylvania.

Senior forward Taylor Hamlett captured the state title for Mars when she slipped behind the defense of the perennial Pennsylvania powerhouse and tapped home the only goal of the game. The Jems had reached the PIAA state championship every year since 2014, were the defending state champions and have produced an all-time record of 9-7-1 in state championship games.

With its victory in Hershey, Mars finished its season with an undefeated record of 22-0-1. The only blemish on its record was a 3-3 tie with Seneca Valley on Sept. 14.

Star junior midfielder Ellie Coffield was also awarded the inaugural Kaitlyn “Moe” Rosensteel Most Outstanding Player of the Year Award, which is reserved for the best girls soccer player in the WPIAL.

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Tags: Mars