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SHILLINGTON – Aubrey Bossert was doing a good job of keeping her emotions under wraps. Until, that is, she was asked what she would remember most about her final high school field hockey season.
“It was an amazing season,” the Wissahickon senior said, biting back tears. “I’m definitely going to remember all the players. We’re all really close, and it was a great experience and a lot of fun being part of this team.”
The amazing ride that was the 2009 hockey season came to an abrupt end for the Trojans on Tuesday night when they were derailed by District 3 runner-up Hempfield 1-0 in a PIAA Class AAA opening round game at Governor Mifflin High School.
“It’s really difficult,” Bossert said. “We wanted to go all the way, so it’s a hard thing.”
The Trojans closed out the year with a dazzling 20-2 record, and their Achilles’ heel in this loss – just as it had been in their district semifinal loss to Owen J. Roberts – was their inability to capitalize on their corners.
All told, the Trojans had 16 corners – 12 in a second half they dominated.
“Corners in the post-season were the death of us,” senior co-captain Colleen Lynch said. “We just couldn’t get a shot off.
“It’s hard sitting there corner after corner, thinking ‘Oh, we can get it in. We can get it in,’ and then not having it happen.”
The Trojans not only didn’t score on their corners, they rarely managed a shot. For the game, they had just four shots – only two on corners.
“In the regular season, we didn’t have any problems with shots whatsoever,” coach Lucy Gil said. “In the post-season, it’s been a little bit more difficult.
“They were coming out really fast on corners, and we weren’t getting our hits out fast enough. I think that was our main problem.”
The Trojans found themselves in an early hole after Hempfield capitalized on a breakaway that caught everyone off guard, and when Lauren Brooks (Katy Fuhrman assist) banged one home from the top of the circle, Hempfield had a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
“It all broke down for one split second, and that’s what did it,” Gil said. “You could see how easily it (happens) in one swift moment because for the rest of the game we were in it.
“It wasn’t like they were totally dominating the game, although they had some real nice players who did a really good job, but you could say that we were with them the whole game.”
That goal was followed by some serious offensive pressure by Hempfield, but the Trojans’ defense and goalie Jess Scannapieco refused to give an inch. Scannapieco turned away seven shots in a busy first half – most of those early in the half, and a 1-0 deficit certainly did not seem insurmountable for a Trojan squad that can score goals in a hurry.
“We definitely thought we had time,” Bossert said. “It was pretty early on in the first half, and we had a lot of time left to get two goals.”
A lot of time did not equate to a lot of opportunities for the Trojans, whose best chance to get on the scoreboard came just over 12 minutes into the second half when they took back-to-back shots. Both were turned away by goalie Joanna Youssef.
Then came the string of 12 straight corners as the Trojans dominated play but came up empty.
“We weren’t able to get our shots off fast enough,” Bossert said. “Their flier was getting out before we were able to shoot, and they were stopping the ball.
“If we had pulled (the ball) around them, we would have probably been able to get it, but we were thinking too much.”
Despite drawing 16 corners, the Trojans – according to Lynch – never found their stride against Hempfield.
“We just weren’t connecting the way we normally do,” the senior co-captain said. “We usually call for the ball, we find each other’s sticks.
“Today we were passing to open spaces hoping someone was there, and that person wasn’t there, and we’d be yelling at each other to go for it. It was a mess.”
Still, the Trojans battled to the end, extending Hempfield to the limit before falling 1-0.
“This group was really special,” Gil said. “I said to my coaches as I was listening to them (count down at the end of the game), ‘It’s really unfortunate because this group deserved a little bit more than this.’ They just have been a joy to work with.
“We haven’t had any drama, no problems, no anything with this group. They worked hard the whole time. They meshed together really, really well. ”
The Trojans did a lot of things right against District 3’s second place team, but they just couldn’t put the ball in the cage. As a result, their season came to an end sooner than they had hoped as they lost two of their last three games after opening the season with 19 straight wins.
“We were going strong at the beginning of the season, but we just fell apart,” Lynch said. “I don’t know. We just couldn’t step up to the harder teams.”
And in the end, the Trojans may have been hurt by a Suburban One League schedule that saw them rarely tested. Take away their two games against Springfield – 4-3 and 3-2 Wissahickon wins, and the Trojans outscored their league opponents 70-0.
“We were so used to winning 8-0 games,” Lynch said. “We would practice in our games bringing it back, swinging it around, and in these games, we couldn’t do that. We had to keep going forward.
“Playing those slower teams – we played slow against the harder teams. It was difficult to start strong. If we would have experienced this kind of game more, we would have been prepared.”
Despite the disappointing ending, Lynch acknowledged it had been a special season for the American Conference co-champions.
“The girls are amazing,” she said. “We’re all friends off and on the field, so it’s great.
“It’s going to be hard not seeing them every day. I’m going to miss them.”
HEMPFIELD 1, WISSAHICKON 0
Wissahickon 0 0-0
Hempfield 1 0-1
Goals/Assists: Hempfield – Lauren Brooks 1-0, Katy Fuhrman 0-1.
Shots: W-4, H-8.
Corners: W-16, H-4.
Saves: Jess Scannapieco (W) 7, Joanna Youssef (H) 3.
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