CB West fell Conestoga 5-2 in Saturday night’s District One 3A title game at Methacton High School. Photos provided courtesy of Marge Bullock Photography (http://photos.margebullock.com/f1033205788 ).
# 2 CONESTOGA 5, #5 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 2
Charlotte de Vries is on a short but impressive list of Max Field Hockey’s Top 5 players from the Class of 2019. The sophomore midfielder’s selection certainly wouldn’t get an argument from anyone in attendance at Saturday night’s District One 3A championship game at Methacton High School.
The Conestoga sophomore set up four goals and scored the other, all but single-handedly preventing the Bucks from attaining their dream of capturing gold.
“They were really good at penetrating the center,” West senior captain Bryn Boylan said of the Pioneers. “Their big hits – they could really receive very well.
“Charlotte de Vries has a very dangerous reverse, whether it be a pass across or a shot. We were able to shut her down sometimes, but for the most part, she was able to get an assist. She was very consistent.”
Saturday night’s district title game capped a tough stretch for the fifth-seeded Bucks, who were coming off back-to-back double overtime wins over fourth-seeded Methacton (2-1) and top-seeded Unionville (4-3).
“To go through who we had to go through to get (here) – if you would have told me we would have had to beat Unionville to get to the finals, I would have said, ‘No way,’” Lepping said. “They gave all they could to get to this point, and you have to give it up to the other team. They’re just a fantastic team, and we knew that.”
The Bucks should be forgiven if they exhaled just a bit after surviving the gauntlet that was Methacton and Unionville.
“I thought it was very tough,” senior captain Ryan Murray said of coming back after the win over Unionville. “We knew (Conestoga) was number two and we had beaten number one. We may have taken them more lightly at first, but it caught up with us a little bit.”
It looked as though goals might come easily for the Bucks when – on their first corner – Boylan (Murray assist) fired a shot from the top of the circle that found the cage and gave the Bucks a 1-0 lead at the 26:49 mark.
The Pioneers responded by going on the attack, drawing six corners in an 11-minute span. They scored on the sixth on a nifty passing sequence from Michigan State-bound senior Meredith Ross to de Vries, who found Emma McGillis on the right post.
By the end of the first half, that had become an all-too-familiar combination for the Bucks, who fought off the Pioneers’ seventh straight corner to score a goal of their own on a rare counter attack. This time it was Murray banging it home from the top of the circle to give the Bucks a 2-1 lead with 7:24 remaining in the half.
Fourteen seconds later, de Vries sent a reverse stick cross from the left alley, and McGillis was on the right post to deflect it into the cage. The Pioneers duplicated that play with the same result with 1:44 remaining to go into halftime with a 3-2 lead.
“We tried to make some adjustments going forward,” Lepping said. “I think in the second half we got a little better at it, but that was a very successful play for them.
“It was dynamic, and it’s very hard to defend.”
The Bucks managed just one shot in the second half, and while the Pioneers didn’t take a whole lot more, they maintained possession and twice cashed in for goals with de Vries scoring at the 23:24 mark. Then it was Kiley Allen turning a de Vries pass into a goal with 4:07 remaining to close out the scoring.
Although it wasn’t the ending they had hoped for, the Bucks made history, earning the program’s first trip to the district final since 1991 when they won the district crown.
“They play with so much heart, and they give all they can give,” Lepping said. “You remind them of how much they’ve done to get to this point, and the season’s not over yet.
“You feel for them. You know why they’re crushed because they want it so bad. I totally understand that feeling because they leave their heart and soul on the field.”
Despite the outcome, playing in the district title game was no small feat for the fifth-seeded Bucks.
“It’s still a good feeling to be at this game,” Murray said.
“We deserve to be here because we worked so hard this season,” Boylan added. “This was one of our goals. I was very proud to be here.”
In Tuesday’s opening round of the PIAA Class AAA Tournament, Central Bucks West (17-4-1, 9-2-1 SOL) will face District 11 runner-up Stroudsburg. Stroudsburg fell to defending state champion Emmaus 3-1 in the district title game.
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