Looking for a compelling argument for district co-champions in field hockey?
Look no further than Saturday’s district title game between SOL powers Neshaminy and Central Bucks South. This was one of those rare and special contests that neither team deserved to lose, especially in such an un-hockeylike fashion.
Field hockey isn’t about pitting one player taking a penalty stroke against the opposing team’s goalie. Nothing could be less representative of the sport. It’s possible to go for weeks and even months without so much as seeing a penalty stroke awarded in games.
Yet, on hockey’s biggest stage, that’s the method chosen to determine a winner. Granted, it might not be quite as much fun settling for a co-championship, but it’s even less fun to see a team – any team – lose on penalty strokes.
Yes, it’s high drama. Yes, it’s highly entertaining, and yes, it determines seeding for the state tournament. But there has to be a better way.
How about taking another player off the field and adding 10-minute periods until a winner is determined? It would force coaches to go deeper on their benches to keep some semblance of fresh legs on the field, but one team would eventually win, and at least the outcome would be determined on the field of play.
The record will show that in the 2008 District One AAA title game Neshaminy defeated Central Bucks South 1-1 (3-2 penalty strokes), but on this day, both teams were golden.
It doesn’t matter which team wins in strokes – the argument for co-champs still holds true. It is a game like Saturday’s classic war that undoubtedly prompted the PIAA to declare co-champions in the state title game. The same should be true in districts.
No matter how you look at it, state seeding is just not a good enough reason to reduce a wonderful hockey game to a one-on-one competition. It just isn’t!
Kudos to both Neshaminy and Central Bucks South.
This was a championship game that truly lived up to its billing. And then some.
Bradley reverses team’s fortunes - Neshaminy was just 19.7 seconds away from a 1-0 win in regulation, but just as the celebration about to begin, South senior Ally Bradley scored a goal that just might hereon in simply be referred to as ‘the shot.’
‘The shot’ came with Bradley going down at the top left of the circle. Somehow – in a play fans will be talking about for years to come – the senior midfielder fired a reverse stick goal into the opposite corner of the cage that was hit so hard no one from either team had a chance to react.
A reverse stick shot is not high on any coach’s list when it comes to shot selection, and the Titans had obviously learned that lesson well.
“When she went with the reverse stick, everyone was like, ‘Ally, what are you doing? Why are you doing this? Why? Why? Why?’” teammate Sarah Hasson said. “All of a sudden it went in the cage, and we all went crazy.”
Bradley admits she surprised even herself.
“I didn’t even think it went in, but it did,” she said. “I never can do it in practice. I always try and I always whiff. It came at a good time.”
No one – least of all the Redskins – could see Bradley’s goal coming.
“I was overwhelmed,” senior Marlaine Schneider said. “We have a strong defense, and all of a sudden – Ally Bradley, who’s one of my best friends, roped that ball. I was so amazed. I was like, ‘Wow,’ but I then I said, ‘No, it doesn’t matter. We’re getting this goal back.’”
The Redskins did get it back but not until penalty strokes.
First one is the charm – Dyana Henry had never taken a penalty stroke in a game situation in her life. A district title was riding on the line when she took her first as the final stroker for Neshaminy in Saturday’s title game.
The thought that this was her first penalty stroke never occurred to the senior defensive back.
“Oh my gosh, that’s good I didn’t have that in my mind,” she said. “The coaches always tell us the goalie doesn’t know where the ball’s going, so as long as it goes in the corner and it’s fast going in, it should be good.
“I just went - the whistle blew, I hit it as fast as I could, and it went in.”
And a district title belonged to the Redskins.
Coach Lisa Pennington called Henry back before she took the stroke that won it.
“They make fun of me because I have corny sayings,” the ‘Skins coach said. “I said, ‘You’ve been cool as a cucumber the entire game. Put the ball in the cage.’
“She looked at me and laughed and said, ‘You’re right.’ She’s not a fancy penalty stroker. She just goes up and puts it in.”
Henry spent the better part of the two overtime periods breaking up one potential Titan fast break after another. It’s the kind of play Pennington has come to expect from her senior sweeper.
“She has wonderful speed – she’s a track runner,” the Redskins’ coach said. “Sometimes she doesn’t like to stay back, but I need her back there.”
Interestingly, Henry – who was, in fact, calm as a cucumber on the field – insists she was a wreck before the game even began.
“I tried to stay calm,” she said. “I know when I showed up here today I was panicking. My team really helped me calm down – ‘Dyana, if you’re acting nervous, you’re not going to play well. You got this?’
“Once I got going – everyone was behind me 110 percent, and I was like, ‘Okay, I got this.’”
One cool customer – Alexa Bell looked as though she didn’t have a care in the world as she stood in her team’s huddle just moments before the outcome of Saturday’s district title game would be decided in penalty strokes.
Looks, however, can be deceiving.
“I was so nervous,” the ‘Skins junior goalie said. “I always get really nervous about strokes. I was almost crying.”
Bell had just spent the latter part of the game and two overtimes making one big save after another – 10 all told, but she would have much preferred a quieter day in the cage.
“I don’t enjoy it,” she said. “It’s always good to get saves, but we were doing really good in the first half. I knew we could do better in the second half.”
A softball player in the spring, Bell insists that sport does not help her in hockey.
“My goalie coach always tells me my habits are bad,” she said. “And it makes it harder for field hockey.”
Bell turned away a pair of shots in strokes, sealing the win for the Redskins, but in a giddy post-game scene, the junior goalie (13 saves) tipped her hat to Dyana Henry – her team’s last line of defense.
“She did awesome,” Bell said. “She helped me out so much. She stopped so many breakaways. I couldn’t have done it without her.”
OT streak ends - The Titans had to like their chances when the game headed into overtime after Ally Bradley knotted the score late in regulation. In seven overtime games this season, South was 6-0-1. The Titans only tie was a 1-1 tie with the Redskins.
“You get that hope because you tied it,” coach Meg Hutchinson said. “We really thought we had it. We’ve had a tremendous streak in overtimes, so there was a lot of confidence going into overtime, but they stood strong against us.”
The Titans had their chances to win it in OT but the ‘Skins defense and goalie Alexa Bell refused to give an inch.
“You have to put things in perspective,” Hutchinson said. “Where we were in August and where we are now – it’s so gratifying to see them play at the level they’re playing. I’m incredibly proud of them. They should be proud of themselves.”
They’re back – It had been 25 years since the Redskins won their last district title in 1983, and one of the players on Sheila Murphy’s squad, which went on to capture the state crown, was a diminutive defensive back named Lisa Dengler.
Dengler – now Pennington – had led her team to three district runner-up finishes prior to capturing this year’s state crown, but the fourth try was the charm.
“It’s awesome because we’ve never done it before,” the veteran coach said. “It’s always in your mind, but I’m not a person who wants to put anything on the kids. Our goal every year is to win the league and continue.”
The ‘Skins journey to a district crown began long before the first day of practice in August. They play indoor during the winter and travel to Old Dominion for camp in the summer.
“We went to Old Dominion this summer – it couldn’t have been hotter,” Pennington said. “They were doing construction – it was hot, dirty, smelly.
“We were down there for five days, and the kids learned and worked hard. It really starts then. They just really have stepped up to the occasion. They’re a great group of kids. We don’t always agree, but we learned to respect each other and step up and just hustle.”
It is that hustle that has defined the Redskins during a magical district playoff run.
- Log in to post comments
0
