Central Bucks South captured the District One AAA field hockey title as a result of its 2-1 double overtime win over Unionville Monday. To view photos of all the action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Mary Jane Souder
WEST CHESTER – It was easy to understand why Megan Hamilton was feeling a sense of déjà vu when she found herself on the receiving end of a pass from teammate Mackenzie Harding and – with one sweet swing – found the back of the cage.
Ten days earlier, Central Bucks South’s junior forward – in much the same fashion - slammed home the game winner with 26 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Titans a 1-0 win over Haverford in the district quarterfinals.
Monday’s goal was far more dramatic and the stakes were even higher as Hamilton’s goal – which came at the 9:49 mark of the second overtime - drove a dagger into the heart of a gutsy Unionville squad and propelled the Titans to an exhilarating 2-1 win and a District One AAA title.
“It’s overwhelming,” Hamilton said. “It was the same exact thing. I got (the ball), and I don’t even know what happened. I feel as though I closed my eyes and hoped for the best, and it went in the back of the net.
“When I heard it, I was just so excited, so happy and so proud. Everything came down to that moment, and everything we’ve worked for just hit home with that. It was exhilarating. I was speechless.”
Words weren’t needed.
Hamilton disappeared in a sea of jubilant teammates who converged in the circle for an emotional celebration.
“Words can’t even describe how happy we are right now,” senior Amber Steigerwalt said. “We have worked since August for this day. This was our goal coming into the season, and just to be wearing these medals and having a trophy with all my best friends is just a great feeling.”
The game winning goal came on the Titans’ second corner in the second OT.
“It was the most exciting moment of my life,” Steigerwalt said. “I have never been this happy. Just hearing that ball smack into that wood (in the back of the cage) and seeing how lit up Megan’s face was – it was just amazing.”
In that magical moment, the frustration the Titans were feeling after coming up empty on 17 preceding corners was erased.
“The frustration with me too was the inserts,” Hamilton said. “Every time it would trickle out, and it would be like, ‘Are you kidding me?’
“I’m trying to blow into my hands (to warm them up), and it was quarter after quarter – can we please get it in? You can tell when you’re in double overtime, it starts going downhill, it starts getting a little slower, everyone is really tired, and when we finally got that in, I was like, ‘thank the Lord’ because if we had gone to strokes, I don’t even know what would have happened.”
Hamilton’s heroics wouldn’t have happened if freshman goalie Sarah Zeszotarski had not delivered several monster plays of her own. None loomed larger than her back-to-back saves in the opening minutes of the second OT.
“The key is to remain calm,” Zeszotarski said. “If you start freaking out or get nervous, your mind gets out of the zone. You just need to stay in there and know that your teammates have your back and that, no matter what, you’re going to keep the ball out of the cage.”
Zeszotarski looked anything but the part of a freshman, coming up big on several occasions and finishing with nine saves.
“I live, breathe and eat field hockey,” the freshman goalie said. “It’s been my whole life.
“When I knew they were coming in hard, I knew I had to step up, and I knew I had to take that ball out and not let them get a chance to get that shot off. I stepped up to the challenge with the help of my teammates. They always supported me.”
The district title came a year after the Titans – then the tournament’s top seed – were sent home in the second round. This year’s young squad made sure there would be no reruns, gutting it out in front of a partisan Unionville crowd on a bitterly cold day.
“They played with so much heart and determination,” co-coach Marie Schmucker said. “Talk about trusting each other and believing in each other. Somebody asked me, ‘Did you have these expectations to go this far?’
“We said we just wanted to get one game further than we did last year. It’s one season at a time, one game at a time. I think us believing in each and every one of the players and the players believing in themselves – that’s the bottom line. Trust – they had a lot of trust out there today.”
Trust was a word that came up regularly in a giddy postgame scene, and in no area was that trust more significant than on the defensive end where – during the riveting OT periods - junior Jess Schmidt and Zeszotarski anchored the defense.
“You just have to rely on your team,” Schmidt said. “We all trust each other to be there, and we always have each other’s backs. We support each other.
“We know if a ball gets through one of us, someone is going be there to back us up.”
The junior defensive back credited the team’s freshman goalie.
“She’s great,” Schmidt said of Zeszotarski. “She really helps us out back there. She communicates to us, which helps every player on the field because she’s telling us where to be, where to go. She’s really a great goalie.”
A look back would show that the Indians actually scored on their first shot of the game when Erin Karcher turned an Annabeth Donovan pass into a goal at the 21:19 mark of the opening half. It took exactly 70 seconds before the Titans – thanks to an Emily Cligett goal on the rebound of a goalie save – knotted the score.
The two teams went into halftime deadlocked, this despite the fact that the Titans held a 7-0 advantage in corners. Coming out of halftime, Unionville was the aggressor, drawing three corners to none for the Titans in the opening 15 minutes of the half.
The Titans drew five corners in the final four minutes of regulation but couldn’t capitalize. In the first overtime, the Titans drew three corners but managed no shots.
“It’s tough,” Steigerwalt said of OT. “With only seven girls on the field, there’s a lot more running. You have to play a lot of defense.
“You can’t let one girl be unmarked, but we have a lot of great communication between everybody. Our goalie really communicated well with everyone. It was a great team effort.”
The second OT started with the Indians on the attack, but the Titans answered with two corners of their own. On the first, Unionville defensive back Katja Hensen made a goal line stop, but the Indians weren’t as fortunate on Hamilton’s shot.
“I was so excited,” Schmidt said. “It’s such a great experience for all of us.”
Zeszotarski.was still trying to contain her emotions long after the dust had settled on the heart-stopping win.
“I’m freaking out on the inside,” she said. “I’m trying to not scream and run around in circles. They’re crying and hugging, and I’m literally so happy right now. Words can’t even describe it.”
“This is everything we’ve ever worked for,” Hamilton said. “We don’t like to think ahead too much, but we’ve always said districts since the start of the year.
“To win that – it’s everything we’ve ever worked for. We’re such a close team. Some of us were crying at the end. I’m so proud of all the seniors. It’s just great to finish it off the way we hoped since the beginning of the season.”
Co-coach Jeff Harding tipped his hat to the Indians.
“What a formidable opponent,” he said. “What a great team. They had a very good game plan, and it could have gone either way.
“For any program, when you emotionally put a lot of time into it and then you reap the benefits – it’s a great feeling for the kids, it’s a great feeling for the parents and coaches because there are a lot of sacrifices you make being a student-athlete. I’m just glad we came out on top. It’s a great feeling. We just want to play on the last day. We want to play as much hockey as we can. What a great team effort. They all had a role to play.”
NOTES: While Monday’s title game was all but a home game for Unionville, the Titans had an hour-plus bus trip. They opted to use that to their advantage. “The circumstances were not good, but we tried to turn it into a positive,” Harding said. “We got out of school early, and we had a great bus ride down here. We went over some set pieces. If we were rushed getting out of school and going to (CB) West, maybe we didn’t have that quality team together. I felt they were really prepared on the bus ride over, and this is a beautiful facility. It was a great place to play.”…When the Titans won their last district title in 2009, Kelly Hamilton, Madison Harding and Kayla Kenney were mainstays on that squad. Their younger siblings – Megan Hamilton, Mackenzie Harding and Corrine Kenney – played key roles on the Titans’ run to the top of the district this time around…the Titans will face a tough challenge in the opening round of the PIAA Class AAA Tournament on Wednesday when they take on perennial power Lower Dauphin (18-2-1) at War Memorial Field at 3 p.m.
#9 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 2, #3 WISSAHICKON 1 (Consolation Game)
The Bucks continued their impressive postseason run with a win over the third-seeded Trojans in Monday’s consolation game at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
“I am extremely proud of my team,” coach Casey Hughes said. “They’ve had a magical ride through the 2012 District One Tournament all the way to this third place finish.
“We’re excited to move into state championship play on Wednesday, and I’m hoping we can put two solid 30-minute halves together.”
The Bucks served early notice that they meant business, opening up a 1-0 lead when senior Heather Zezzo turned a pass from Kim Hitchcock into a goal at the 23:44 mark of the opening half.
“We started the game very strong with gorgeous stick-to-stick passing, and as a team, the girls possessed the ball well,” Hughes said. “After Heather scored, we continued to play very strong hockey and used great passing combinations in the transfer game and on attack.
“For the last part of the half, Wissahickon was really putting on the offensive pressure, and our defense struggled to keep the ball out of the defensive 25, giving up five corners in the half.”
The Bucks took that 1-0 lead into halftime and upped that lead to 2-0 when Zezzo connected on her second goal, this one with an Elena Romesburg assist at the 22:54 mark of the second half.
“We came out very strong – similar to the beginning of the game, and we were able to get things going offensively,” Hughes said. “Heather played a great game at center midfield and was distributing the ball well and playing excellent defense.”
The Trojans broke up West’s shutout bid when Melanie Fry connected with 9:01 remaining, using a Jackie Hibbs assist.
“Toward the last part of the half, we had a little bit of a letdown defensively as a team and left the center of the field open,” Hughes said.
The Trojans drew eight second half corners, but the Bucks were able to keep them off the scoreboard.
Hughes lauded the performances of several players, including senior midfielder Tori Mettin and junior midfielder Kate Varallo.
“They played very strong in the second half,” the first-year coach said. “Defensively, senior Mackenzie Gallagher and junior Caitlyn Lowry played very poised defense and were able to come up with strong clears and tackles.”
The Trojans held a decisive 13-2 advantage in corners and a 12-9 edge in shots on goal. Trojan goalie Emoni Fisher was credited with six saves while West’s Brianna DeAngelis had seven saves.
West will face District Three runner-up Central Dauphin in an opening round state playoff game at Milton Hershey High School on Wednesday at 5 p.m. The Trojans will face District XII champion Cardinal O’Hara at Germantown High School on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
- Log in to post comments
