New Hope-Solebury fell to Faith Christian Academy in Saturday’s District 1 1A title game. Photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos.
District 1 1A title game
#1 FAITH CHRISTIAN 3, #2 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 1
Saturday’s postgame huddle included New Hope’s players – arms intertwined – sharing often emotional sentiments. It was a moment that spoke volumes about the togetherness and bond this small Lions’ squad shared. They lost the game, but they remained united.
“We’re all really close this year off the field,” junior captain Danielle Wilson said. “Some of us have played together for a while, so we know how we play, and we work well off each other.
“We’ve also gotten better at holding each other accountable, which has helped us to grow, especially throughout these last few weeks of the postseason.”
“We’re definitely a smaller team,” senior captain Rebecca Valliyil said. “We see each other in school all the time and outside of school too, so it’s not just field hockey that brings us together. There are many different aspects that we’re able to connect on.”
“Our team is so small and tightknit,” junior captain Gabi Solis said. “A lot of us have been playing together since we were in second grade, so we know each other – how we play and what we are going to do. We’re such a close team.”
Making the ending even harder to swallow was the fact that they believed the outcome could have been different. The Lions led 1-0 after one quarter, thanks to a goal Willa Bray in a scramble in front of the cage during corner play.
But then came a second quarter and a seven-minute span that saw Faith Christian score three unanswered goals. That turned out to be the difference in the game.
“In the second quarter, the moment we might have one little slip-up, I think it went to our heads,” Valliyil said. “I think we tried getting back up, but it really is a team effort. If one person’s not in the right mentality – with a team sport, everybody has to be on the same page.
“I think Faith did a good job of working together, and I think this was definitely a good lesson for us to pick up on that. We’ve done that in the past, but in the second quarter, once we had one little mess-up – we can’t let that get in our heads.
New Hope had a golden opportunity to pull closer in the second half when they forced a downed FCA goalie to make back-to-back saves. They never seriously threatened the rest of the way, but neither did FCA, which held on to capture the program’s third straight district crown.
“It’s definitely really tough to lose because it’s 60 minutes that you’re fighting really hard,” senior captain Emersyn Thistlewaite said. “We’re fighting for each other, and we’ve dedicated so many hours.
“This team is basically my second family. We’ve seen each other in the highs and lows and just to know that we tried really hard. We’re spending our Saturday morning here, we’re dedicated to this. It stings a bit, but at least we have a purpose, and we’re going to fight hard no matter what happens.”
Scoring Summary
First quarter
Willa Bray (NH-S) 1:18
Second quarter
FCA goal, 12:14
FCA goal, 9:20
FCA goal, 5:08
Third & Fourth quarters
No score
New Hope-Solebury coach Gwen Smith:
–The game: “We came out strong and went up 1-0 in the first quarter. We definitely let down in the second quarter. You just kind of saw us drop, and we got disorganized, we got undisciplined, and they are a team that will capitalize when you are not disciplined, and that’s essentially what was happening.
“It was a great effort. We were fighting – we fought to the end, and we kept going. We came to play today, for sure.”
–In it together: “This is a supportive team – they support each other. They fight, and it shows on the field, and it showed today, and I’m super proud of that.”
New Hope-Solebury junior captain Danielle Wilson:
–The game: “In the first quarter, we came out really strong. We knew what we had to do, but then in the second quarter, we got in our heads, especially once they scored, and we broke down. After that, I’d say we never fully got back to where we were in the first quarter, which really hurt us, but I do think we started off really strong, and we did have really good moments. We knew what we had to do, and we were getting it done.”
New Hope-Solebury junior captain Gabi Solis:
“Everything has a purpose, every detail – we spend so much time working on getting it down, all the hours we spend during the week working on this stuff – it really comes down to the games, and I think just seeing how much effort we put into the games and our practices, you definitely feel emotion after our loss, but I just think it’s so much of our hard work and so much passion for the sport that it sucks to lose.
“We came into this – they beat us last year. We wanted to come back and get a win this year, and we didn’t, but we put all our effort on the field, and I think that we can say that we left everything on the field, and we can be happy with that. We gave it our all.”
Up next: New Hope-Solebury will face the District 12 champion in Tuesday’s opening round of the PIAA 1A State Tournament.
New Hope-Solebury 1-0-0-0 1
Faith Christian 0-3-0-0 3
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