CB West saw its season come to an end in a hard fought 5-4 loss to Coughlin in a PIAA Class AAA opening round game Tuesday.
#2-1 COUGHLIN 5, #1-4 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 4
Losses aren’t easy, and they aren’t fun, but some losses are easier to swallow than others.
Early in the second half of Tuesday’s PIAA Class AAA opener against Coughlin, All-American Brigid Wood scored on a lift shot that gave the Crusaders a 4-1 lead. West coach Courtney Lepping called a timeout.
Nothing was ever the same.
The Bucks all but owned the rest of the game, drawing 10 corners to two for the Crusaders and outscoring the District Two champions 3-1. If the game had been five minutes longer, the odds would have favored the hard charging Bucks, who looked every bit the part of a team that rolled to 20 straight wins.
“I would have liked to have had five more minutes, but if I had to go back and change it, I probably wouldn’t because I think this was the right time to end our season,” junior Cadera Smith said. “Maybe it’s hard for people, but I feel like that game – the way that we played at the end of that game, that’s how I want to end my season.”
The ending was vintage West field hockey.
The Bucks attacked relentlessly, they passed with precision. The Crusaders – who had eight shutouts in 14 games and had never allowed more than one goal a game – were reeling, but they were saved by the final horn.
“Even though it hurts to lose, the way you lose does matter, and they gave it their all in the loss,” Lepping said.
Tuesday’s game at Wyoming Seminary was played in a steady rain, and from the outset, the Crusaders made the most of their opportunities. On their first corner four minutes into the game, Wood scored on a wicked shot from the top of the circle.
The Bucks answered with four straight corners of their own and got on the board on their fourth when senior Emily Halderson scored on the rebound of a goalie save.
That 1-1 tie lasted just one minute and 37 seconds, and this time it was Kyra Wozniak scoring on a breakaway to give the Crusaders a 2-1 lead. That lead grew to 3-1 when Wood scored on Coughlin’s second corner of the first half. They took that two-goal lead into halftime despite the Bucks’ lopsided 10-3 advantage in corners in the half.
It looked as though the Crusaders would cruise to the finish line when Wood scored just over a minute into the second half to put her team top 4-1.
The Bucks came out of the timeout and drew four straight corners. Bryn Boylan scored on the fourth on a follow up shot. Wozniak got that goal back at the 12:57 mark, but Taylor Mason found the back of the cage 70 seconds later during corner play.
The Bucks kept the pressure on, and it was a 5-4 game after Smith scored with 2:38 remaining. Time expired before the Bucks could score the equalizer, but as endings go, this one wasn’t too bad.
“I feel like the reality came forward that if we didn’t win this game – our season was over,” Smith said. “Our seniors would be gone, and it would just be the underclassmen and the juniors, and I think that really made us play our hearts out and really want this game.”
Included in this year’s senior class were Mikayla Darrows, Emily Halderson, Anna Hall, Rachel Loux, Macella Molenari, Courtney Westover and Ariana Wexler.
“Every one of the seniors – no matter how much time they played, they just all contributed to this team,” Lepping said. “Between our captains, our goalies and our role players, every single senior cared about the team and gave their all.”
The loss was the third in a row for the Bucks after 20 straight wins
“I can remember at the beginning of the season when Taylor (Mason) said, ‘Let’s go undefeated,’ and everyone was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure,’ and we had 20 undefeated games,” Smith said. “All of a sudden we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re undefeated,’ and then losing that game, it was just hard, and I think it took a toll on us.”
If the Bucks hadn’t bounced back from their first loss of the season to Downingtown East when they fell to Conestoga 5-1 in Friday’s playback game, they certainly did in the second half of Tuesday’s state opener.
Central Bucks West closed out a successful season 20-3 overall (14-0 SOL).
Central Bucks West 1-3 4
Coughlin 3-2 5
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