Several local athletes to compete in nationals

Penn-Trafford rising junior midfielder Ava Hershberger will be able to officially speak with college recruiters in less than a week.

“I’m just going to wait and see what the best option is,” Hershberger said. “It’s definitely very exciting, but it’s also kind of scary that I’m going to have to make a choice soon.”

She may have a few more colleges knocking on her door in the coming weeks.

Hershberger has been selected to play in the U-16 Rise Division of the Nexus Field Hockey Championships, which will be held June 23-30 in Virginia Beach, Va.

It’s the second consecutive year she has been chosen to participate. And Hershberger had to jump through a lot of hoops to get there.

She had to go through three weekends of practices, some in Michigan and in Ohio, and be chosen to be among the top 40% of the participants. She then had to go to a final tryout a Ball State University in Indiana where she was selected to move on to the nationals where she is among approximately 230 players in her age group.

Though she went last year, this will be the first time college coaches can approach her and actively recruit.

“I feel, like this month and this summer will be a little bit more nerve-wracking,” Hershberger said. “Hopefully by the time school starts I’ll either know where I’m going, or have it narrowed down to one or two schools.”

Hershberger will personally be dealing with her first experience with college coaches, but it’s not like it’s something she hasn’t seen before. Her older sister Gwendolyn, who was a goalkeeper for the Warriors last season and qualified for the event in the U- 19 division, went through the recruiting process and will attend Ohio University in the fall.

She and her sister aren’t the only people representing the WPIAL.

Pine-Richland, which has won the past three WPIAL Class 3A titles, will send two players to the tournament.

Rylie Wollerton, the two time PostGazette Field Hockey Player of the Year, will officially close out her high school career at the event. The Louisville recruit, who played two years for the Rams and two in Virginia, finished her prep career with 139 career goals, including 89 in her final two years at PineRichland.

Wollerton, a midfielder, will play in the U-19 classification.

“I’ve played all the way through since U-14 and, when you get there, you’re randomly selected for a team and you start playing games,” Wollerton said. “At the end is the Stars and Stripes Game, which is the all-star game of the tournament.”

Wollerton was selected for the Stars and Stripes game for the first time last year and, because of her performance, got a tryout with the national team. But this year, she had to go through her three training sessions to get to this point like everyone else.

Unlike the rest of the field, however, she had the unique opportunity to have one of those weekends at Louisville’s Trager Stadium, which will be her home field for the next four years.

“That was cool because the last session we got to play on the college turf,” Wollerton said. “I like it there. It was comfortable.”

Wollerton will be joined by Rams teammate Georgia Rottinghaus, who is also no stranger to the event. Her oldest sister Molly, who just graduatedfrom Boston University, also participated in the tournament.

Learning the intricacies of the game from two Division I sisters — her older sister Ella just completed her freshman year at Boston — and a teammate like Wollerton certainly didn’t hurt her chances.

“My sisters would take me up to the field and practice with me. Watching them play their games online or in person, it’s really developed my skill and my play,” Rottinghaus said. “Rylie was really fun to play with, she supported me and she was an amazing player.”

Of the local players selected for the U-19 team, only Shady Side Academy goalkeeper Thea Conomikes will be returning this season. The rising senior and three-time WPIAL Class 1A champion has already committed to play at Richmond.