• Hempfield High School's new soccer field will be the site of some high-level men's and women's competition in the next few months.
The Harrisburg City Islanders, defending champions of Division Two of the United Soccer Leagues, will play five exhibition games at Hempfield.
The Islanders will meet Bucknell University at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 25; Lehigh University at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 5; and Hartwick University at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 6. The Isles will play two games Saturday, April 12, against Lafayette at 9 a.m. and against Penn State at 7:30 p.m.
All of the exhibition games at Hempfield are open to the public, with no admission.
The Isles open the regular season against the Cleveland City Stars at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at Skyline Sports Complex, the team's home field on Harrisburg's City Island.
• The Lancaster Inferno, a new women's amateur team, will start play in May in the Women's Premier Soccer League. The Inferno will play its home games at Hempfield.
Doug Harris, president of the PA Classics, is the Inferno's head coach. The assistants are
Amber Spell and
Joe Longenecker.
The WPSL is a national league, with 45 teams in five divisions. The Inferno will play in the East Conference's Mid-Atlantic Division.
The WPSL is considered the highest level of women's amateur soccer in North America.
The Inferno's roster is loaded with local stars:
Carli Brill (Penn Manor, Pitt),
Arielle Gordon (Ephrata, Lock Haven),
Caitlin Higgins (Penn Manor, Buffalo),
Katie Hoffsmith (Manheim Central, Messiah),
Kristin Hoffsmith (Manheim Central, St. Francis, Pa.),
Holly Homsher (Penn Manor),
Katie Lamb (Elco, Eastern Mennonite),
Caitlin Moore (Hempfield, Johns Hopkins),
Amy Pickard (Lancaster Catholic, Delaware),
Kambria Riggins (Penn Manor, West Virginia),
Teresa Rynier (Conestoga Valley, James Madison),
Sara Scheid (Penn Manor, Temple),
Casie Shover (Penn Manor, Delaware),
Carey Cortese (Hempfield, Messiah) and
Katlyn Musser (Hempfield, Messiah).
"The team will showcase the best names in local soccer," Harris said. "It's almost the MVPs of the Lancaster-Lebanon League. It will be exciting for local people to watch."
The Inferno's first game is at home Sunday, May 18, against the Millburn (N.J.) Magic. The team's 12-game league schedule will run through the middle of July.
Among the other teams in the division are the Philadelphia Liberty, which will play its home games at West Chester University; Northampton Laurels, who play at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown; Central Delaware SA Future, Long Island Fury and Atlantic City Diablos.
For information on tryouts or to volunteer, call Doug Harris
at 572-4167 or
Steve Klein at 214-6895. For information about the WPSL, see
www.wpsl.info.
• Washington & Jefferson's
Kaitlyn Orstein finished her college career by winning three events at the NCAA Division III swimming championships at Miami of Ohio.
Orstein set a Division II record in the 200 individual medley (2:00.27) and also won the 100 breaststroke (1:02.04) and 200 breaststroke (2:16.29).
Kaitlyn is the daughter of W&J coach
Mike Orstein, a Manheim Township graduate.
Jim Hersh is sports editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at jhersh@lnpnews.com.
