Five of the eight teams still standing in the District One Class AAA Tournament are from the SOL. Four will still be alive after
Wednesday’s action but one – the loser of the Central Bucks South/North Penn game – will go home for the season.
In Wednesday’s semifinals, second-seeded Wissahickon will take on fifth-seeded Council Rock North. The two teams met in the first game of the season in early September, and while the Trojans won that one 2-0, a whole lot has happened since then.
Both teams went on to win their respective conference crowns, and while the second-seeded Trojans beat William Tennent and Haverford with relative ease in the district tournament’s opening rounds, the Indians pulled off a big upset of fourth-seeded Owen J. Roberts, downing the Wildcats 1-0 in a game that saw the Indians manage just two shots on goal.
Eighth-seeded Central Bucks East, meanwhile, will take the momentum of its huge upset of previously unbeaten Central Bucks South into Wednesday’s district semifinal game against a Mount St. Joseph Academy squad that sent North Penn to the loser’s bracket with a 2-1 win.
North Penn and CB South will square off at Wissahickon in a 3:30 p.m. game. Wissahickon and Council Rock North will play at Central Bucks West at 3:30 while Central Bucks East and the Mount will play a 3:30 game at North Penn. In another elimination game, Haverford will face Owen J. Roberts at PW at 3:30 p.m.
It promises to be an interesting day of field hockey.
Remmey Twins Double Trouble for East’s Opponents
Twins Melissa and Carolyn Remmey found themselves the unsuspecting subject of their coach’s text messages to assistant coach Erin Scott during last week’s NLCS.
“Any time there was an issue – the Phillies would leave two runners on base or something went through the second baseman, it was like, ‘They need the Remmeys,’” Central Bucks East coach Marie Meehan said.
The Remmeys are just two of the reasons why the Patriots find themselves playing in Wednesday’s district final, and if any two players personify the blue collar work ethic that has defined this year’s East squad, it is the talented twins.
While Melissa is a rock on defense, Carolyn is a playmaker on offense at high forward. Both share similar characteristics.“They are sheer competitive, down-to-earth kids who want to win games and believe in the team,” Meehan said. “They communicate non-stop, and their expectations are high – you don’t have to be perfect, but you have to try your very best.
“That’s where they’re coming from. It’s kind of like old-school. I don’t even think they realize they’re old-school, but you’ve got to love the workhorse ethic they have.”
Heading into the postseason, Meehan compared her eighth-seeded field hockey team to another postseason underdog – the San Francisco Giants.
“Normally, we’d want to be the Phillies because we love the Phillies, but the Giants were so hungry, and they just really wanted to win,” she said.
So far in districts, the Patriots have been performing at a level on par with the now World Champion Giants.
In the opening round of districts, the Patriots didn’t surprise anyone when they edged Methacton 2-1 in overtime, but few people would have given the Patriots a chance to defeat top-seeded Central Bucks South in last Friday’s quarterfinal round.
Except for the players and coaches, who didn’t seem all that shocked when they stunned the previously unbeaten Titans 2-0.
“Coming into the season, one of our goals was to beat South,” Carolyn Remmey said. “We knew they were going to be a good team – they always have been a good team since our sophomore year.
“When we lost to them twice during the regular season, we were disappointed because we knew we had the potential to beat them. When we found out we had the opportunity to play them again in the postseason, everyone was really excited.”
The players, according to the Remmeys, share a special camaraderie, and this year’s squad is a team in the truest sense of the word.“We are so close with each other and such good friends,” Melissa said. “I have never been on a team before where everyone on the team – we’re all best friends with each other. The chemistry on our team is so great. We know what each other is going to do on the field, and we can play really well together.”
“We don’t have a single superstar on our team, but everyone on our team is an important player,” Carolyn added. “All of our wins are because of our teamwork.
“We have such a wide range of people scoring and making good plays. Every single person contributes something on our team.”
That being said, the Remmeys are the glue that keeps this Patriot team together.
“Carolyn can touch any through ball and make something happen with it,” Meehan said. “A lot of times through balls are coming from Melissa.
“Melissa is a vacuum cleaner. She will stop up anything teams are trying to get through and redirect it in our direction. She’s setting up team attack whether from the depths of our defensive end or the heights of the attacking circle.”
Both are three-year starters for the Patriots.
“They are such smart players,” Meehan said. “They listen well, and they ask questions. A lot of players might nod their heads but maybe not be sure, but they ask questions until they’re sure.
“They make wonderful suggestions, and they’re kind of like coaches on the field.”
According to Meehan, the twins have a special connection on the hockey field.
“I feel as though anyone you play with your whole life you work well together,” Carolyn Remmey said. “Some of my other friends that I’ve been playing with since middle school – I play the same way with them just because we know each other so well and have played together for so long.”
Although it’s hard to tell the twin sisters apart, they are not identical but fraternal twins. Still, Melissa was able to fool her teacher when she switched places with her sister as an April Fool’s Day joke in first grade.
“People don’t really believe me when I say we’re fraternal, but we are,” Melissa said.
Melissa – who gave up soccer this year when it moved to the fall – also plays basketball. Carolyn plays lacrosse in the spring, but for now, hockey is in the forefront.
“Field hockey - that’s pretty much all we talk about,” Melissa said.
Looming on the horizon is a date with Mount St. Joseph Academy in Wednesday’s district semifinals.
“This feels awesome,” Melissa said. “This is everything we could have hoped for going into the season. We’re all really happy about beating South, but we have to focus on what else we have to do because we’re still not satisfied. We want to keep going further.”
Trojans’ Guaglianone a Rising Star
Gretchen Guaglianone, according to coach Lucy Gil, has ‘skyrocketed up to stardom.”
It’s hard to argue with that statement after looking at the junior midfielder’s contributions in the Trojans’ wins over William Tennent (4-0) and Haverford (2-0) last week.
In the win over Tennent, Guaglianone was a one-woman wrecking crew, scoring all four goals. Against Haverford, she had assists on both goals.“She has been playing really, really strong,” Gil said. “She has really come into her own.
“She has a rocket of a shot. Before she would pass the ball right away, but now she trusts herself to take on her defender. I think she’s more comfortable in her own skin as a player.”
Ask Guaglianone the key to her monster week, and she points to the team’s good practices.
“Everyone was really working hard, and we really tried to focus on the passing we could get done in a game,” she said. “We were just working the ball around, and I put the ball in the net.
“Our team has really been working hard, and we’re just staying focused on each game at a time.”
The Trojans lost more than a few key players from last year’s squad that fell to Owen J. Roberts in the district semifinals but have remained a district power.
“Our coaches were really looking to some of this year’s seniors and juniors to step up,” Guaglianone said. “We also got some really good freshmen and sophomores who stepped up and picked up the slack, and they were really able to make this a really good team.”
The Trojans served early notice that they would be a team to contend with, extending CB South to overtime before falling 2-1 in overtime and also staying with defending District One Class AA champ Villa Maria Academy before falling 3-2.
Those were the only two losses of the season for the Trojans, who take a 14-game winning streak into Wednesday’s district semifinal game against Council Rock North.
“Each game that played out of our league, we thought, ‘This is what they’re going to look at when we’re getting seeded. We have to really show what we can do,’” Guaglianone said. “We were just really working hard.”
Guaglianone and her teammates are looking forward to Wednesday’s date against Council Rock North.
“We’re really excited,” she said. “Knowing you’re going to go to states takes a little of the pressure off, but we still want to keep doing well in districts.
“We’re not going to give this up. We’re looking to go to the championship.”
Krause and Defense Propel Rock North to Lofty Heights
Standing in the way of a trip to the title game for the Trojans is a Rock North squad whose defense and goalie Amanda Krause have shut out seven of their last eight opponents.
And while Central Bucks East stunned the field hockey world with its win over Central Bucks South in Friday’s quarterfinals, the Indians shocked themselves when they upended Owen J. Roberts that same day.
“Friday was quite a shock,” Krause said. “I actually didn’t really convince myself it happened until the day after when I woke up.”
The Indians won it with defense, fending off one Wildcat shot after another. All told, Krause turned away 13 shots to earn – appropriately – her 13th shutout of the season.“Our defense has just been a tremendous savior for our team,” Krause said. “Game after game after game, the defense has always come through.
“It was amazing on Friday to watch us all jell together as a team. We started playing, and we knew as soon as we started that their team had a lot higher skill level than us. We just knew we had to play our game – we couldn’t play scared. We played with a lot of heart and a lot of intensity, and our defense shut them down.
“They were in our end 90 percent of the game, but we got (three) corners in a row, and on the third corner, we scored. It was exhilarating. It really was. It wasn’t just our defense. Our offense got up there and scored.”
Krause went on to credit the defenders who play in front of her - Kara Magley, Kara Le, Courtney Titus and Jacque Fagan.
“My defense honestly astounded me on Friday,” the senior goalie said. “They took shot after shot after shot, and they had repeated corners.
“It was frustrating, it was heartwrenching, but we were able to get through it and keep the ball out of the net, and that was the most important part. Definitely, our defense has been a rock. You can say I have 13 shutouts, but really it was a combined effort of my entire defense because we would not have 13 shutouts if it was not for the rest of my defense.”
Krause, according to coach Heather Whalin, has been a catalyst for the defense.
“It started last year,” the Indians’ coach said. “She really started to come into her own as a goalie.
“She really worked in the offseason on her game, and that has propelled her to new heights in hockey. She wanted to be a good goalie, and she decided last year she wanted to play in college, and she knew she had to put some work in to get better. She did it, and it’s really paid off.”
Whalin went on to acknowledge the contributions of her midfielders in the Indians’ successful postseason run.“It’s definitely been a team effort,” the Indians’ coach said. “Our middies –Michelle Hand, Becky Ely and Carly Evert - have been playing really great hockey.
“That whole back has really come together and been playing good hockey, and that’s what has made the difference.”
If there was a defining moment in the season for the Indians, it came after their 2-1 loss to Harry S. Truman on Sept. 20.
“Honestly, I would have to say our lowest point of the season would be that loss,” Krause said. “It was just a very bad game. We were not playing to the best of our ability, and we just knew if we didn’t turn it around and didn’t talk it out and work together as a team to improve and play to our strengths – we would have a long season ahead.”
That’s when Krause and fellow co-captain Becky Ely stepped up and spoke to the team.
“After that loss, we talked a lot with the team and tried to find ways to improve, and we really did,” Krause said. “The girls worked really hard. They have a lot of heart and a lot of passion for the sport, and that makes it a whole lot easier because they’re very determined.
“Every one of us deserves to be where we are right now because we really have been working hard. It’s really great to get this far.”
After the Truman loss, the Indians went on to win six in a row before stubbing their toes in a 1-0 overtime loss to Tennent.
“That was kind of a downer for us, but again, we picked ourselves up and kept moving forward,” Krause said.
They have won eight straight since then.
“We were very determined in the playoffs to improve and get further than we’ve ever gotten,” Krause said. “We’re almost as far as the team when I was a freshman and tagged along as the backup goalie and we went to the second round of states. It was quite exciting to be a part of it.”
The Indians have guaranteed themselves a berth in the state tournament, and they’re still alive in the hunt for a district crown.
“Just the fact that we’re going to states is a great thing for me and the rest of the seniors,” Krause said. “It’s a great way to end our season, and it’s quite exciting for our younger players and our juniors who are playing on varsity for the first time.
“I know they’ve all worked very hard. I’m very proud of all of them because they’ve all stepped up, and they’ve all accepted the responsibility and are doing very well. I’m very excited to play on Wednesday because I’m excited to see what will happen.
“Even though Wissahickon is as skilled as they are and we’ve gone up against them practically every season and they’ve come out on top – I really think we have a shot.”
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