Apr 21, 2020 4 min read

For today’s “When Sports Were Played,” we go back to Nov. 20, 2010, when Peters Township, the girls soccer team that was considered too soft to win a state championship, changed its reputation and started a three-year run of domination by defeating Archbishop Wood for the PIAA Class 3A title.

HERSHEY – Peters Township girls soccer was tagged with a lot of labels in the past. The Indians were called soft and there was a prevailing belief they would never win a big game.

A few years ago, a head coach determined to change their reputation was hired in Pat Vereb and, around the same time, an occasionally brash and highly talented group was rising through the youth ranks.

They proved to be the perfect combination.

Now, Peters Township owns a label that can never been changed.

State champion.

Senior Dani Hume, part of a senior group that altered the course of Peters Township soccer, blasted a rebound off a Veronica Latsko shot past Archbishop Wood goalkeeper Deanna Messner in the 65th minute for the lone goal of the PIAA Class AAA championship at Hersheypark Stadium.

Peters Township capped a season that saw its first WPIAL championship with a 1-0 victory Saturday afternoon for the state title.

“It’s unbelievable. I don’t even know what to think,” said Hume, who scored the game-winner in her final match. “This was my last game ever. It was a good way to end it.”

Hume, who scored a goal in the WPIAL championship, missed several games earlier in the season with lingering effects from a concussion. Because of the concussions, she won’t play soccer in college.

She found herself in the right place when Latsko worked her way past the Archbishop Wood defense as she did throughout the match and blasted a shot that was saved by a diving Messner.

The ball bounced right to Hume, who was unmarked and placed the championship-winning shot to the left of the goalkeeper.

“I was getting frustrated because we had so many chances and couldn’t score. Then, I just got lucky. (Latsko) did all the work on that play,” Hume said. “The team this year, we were all really close. We had our occasional problems off the field but on the field we just played to play.”

And win championships.

Thanks to a dominating performance, Peters Township (23-2) became the fourth Class AAA team from the WPIAL to win a state title, joining Mt. Lebanon, Norwin and Pine-Richland. Peters Township also became just the fourth WPIAL school – joining Mt. Lebanon, Sewickley Academy and South Park – to win boys and girls state soccer championships.

“This is a testament to the community,” Vereb said. “There’s so much talent, but these girls took it to the next level.”

And the Indians did it against a team on a serious roll entering the final. Archbishop Wood (23-2) took a 23-match win streak into the game and was the nation’s No. 4 team according to the National Soccer Coaches Association rankings.

“I didn’t even know what they were ranked,” said Hume, who missed an opportunity on a header in the first half. “We didn’t want to know. We just wanted to come out and play our game.”

That’s exactly what Peters Township did.

Shelli Spamer and Caitlin Carey owned the midfield and their play created several scoring opportunities. Peters Township attempted 18 shots, eight were on goal.

Archbishop Wood managed one quality shot thanks to a defense anchored by Shannon O’Connor and Indians goalie Brittany Hoffman didn’t get much work.

“I knew nothing about this team except that we were going to win,” said Spamer, who came close to scoring on at least three occasions. “They weren’t as good as we thought. I was expecting a lot more. We should have killed them 6-0 but it’s a great way to end senior year.”

Carey, who plays a more defensive game than Spamer, wasn’t surprised at the Indians’ dominance either.

“We’re kind of used to playing like that,” Carey said. “I’m still kind of shocked but we earned it.”