ESPN RISE

History will be made Saturday at the Pennsylvania Class AAA girls' soccer state championships when Lower Dauphin (Hummelstown) takes on Hempfield (Landisville) at Hersheypark Stadium.

For the first time in the 17 years of PIAA spring soccer championships, two schools from the Harrisburg area (District 3) will contest the large-school state title.

The meeting also completes a shift in the state's balance of power.

Suburban Philadelphia schools (District 1) had long dominated spring girls' soccer in Pennsylvania, winning or sharing 11 of the first 15 Class AAA state titles. Not only did District 1 fail to place a team in the state final for only the third time in 17 years, but also the district did not even get a team to the semifinals for the first time.

"The strength of District 3 has been a trend in the making," said Robert Rooney, coach of perennial District 11 power Emmaus, the only school outside of Districts 1 and 3 to ever win a spring state title. "This really isn't a surprise to me. At the [Olympic Development Program] level central Pennsylvania -- the past three, four, five years  at the under-12, -13, -14s have been evenly split with [suburban] Philadelphia. Now, those players are in high school."

Rooney, who has been coaching since 1992, attributes the shift to a few key factors:

-- The club system is more organized in central Pennsylvania than in years past and the youth players are getting better coaching at younger levels, which is now paying off in high school soccer.

-- The increased level of play in District 3 -- in day-in, day-out matches -- is better preparing District 3 programs for the state playoff system.

-- The high school population growth in suburban Philadelphia has resulted in past District 1 powers being split into multiple schools, thus dispersing the talent.

Pennsylvania is one of a few states that offers multiple high school soccer seasons. A majority of the girls' programs play in the fall, along with all of the boys' programs. However, Districts 1, 3 and 11 comprise most of the remaining spring-playing programs.

District 1 schools won all but one state title between 1993 and 1999. Hempfield upset District 1 power Pennsbury in 2000 for District 3's first state crown. Since that time, District 3 programs Penn Manor (Millersville) and Central Dauphin (Harrisburg) have each won two state titles, meaning District 3 has matched District 1 for total state titles this decade (there was one shared title between District 1 and 3 teams in 2007).

The scenario playing out in Pennsylvania is common in the evolving game of high school soccer, where traditional strongholds are being challenged. This weekend in Virginia, the Group AAA girls' soccer state semifinals feature a pair of Eastern Region teams facing Northern Region programs. Northern area teams have won 22 of the past 23 Group AAA state crowns, but the Eastern Region reps are legitimate contenders this year. In Alabama, a boys' soccer team from Mobile became the first outside of Birmingham to win the large-school state title.

Back in Pennsylvania, the surprise that is greater than the District 3 final is the teams that are actually playing. Hempfield, which has been in and out of the state top five rankings all season, and Lower Dauphin only advanced to the state tournament due to the expanded format and additional at-large teams. Lower Dauphin has been a seeding underdog the entire 16-team tournament.

Now that the balance of power has shifted to the Harrisburg area, suburban Philadelphia may never get the chance to regain that status in spring.

The Suburban One League, with 24 schools, recently voted to cease playing spring soccer in 2010 and move to the fall season. The move will have a drastic affect on the 2011 spring playoff format in a way that has not been determined. The growth of spring soccer-playing schools allowed the PIAA to expand the spring state playoffs from eight to 16 teams. It has not been decided if the PIAA will return to an eight-team format in 2011 or consider some other playoff plan.

AROUND THE NATION: Speaking of soccer seasons on the move, the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) in New York City is holding its final spring girls' soccer championship this weekend. Starting next year the PSAL will play fall girls' soccer. & Newton North High School (Mass.) is dealing with the sudden loss of boys' soccer coach Ucal McKenzie. McKenzie, 32, collapsed and died while playing in a recreation league match in South Boston.