CB West and Springfield (Montco) suffered losses in Thursday’s District One field hockey semifinal matchups.
#4 UNIONVILLE 2, #9 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1
Despite only an impromptu practice on Wednesday since last Friday’s emotional win over Conestoga, the Bucks put on a gutsy display of field hockey on Thursday. Adding to the stress of the week, all but two of West’s players were still without power in their homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
“We came out hard,” coach Casey Hughes said. “We had beautiful crossed balls in the circle in the first half, but nobody was there to put a stick on the ball and finish.
“The game was very back and forth.”
Unionville scored both of its goals in the final 10 minutes of the opening half. Izzy McDonough scored both goals, the first with an assist from Annabeth Donovan at the 9:59 mark and the second with a Brielle Hartzell assist with 6:30 remaining.
“The goals we gave up came down to the entire team as a whole not playing strong defense and ineffectively marking open players,” Hughes said. “On their second goal, (goalie) Brianna DeAngelis initially made a beautiful stick save on a lifted, reverse chip shot, but the ball dropped on the turf just behind her where she couldn’t spot it, and McDonough was unfortunately there to put it in.”
The Bucks made things interesting when Heather Zezzo (Virginia Moore assist) connected with 2:19 remaining in the first half to make it a 2-1 game at the intermission.
In the opening half, both teams had two corners while the Bucks held a 9-7 edge in shots. Neither team scored in the second half, although the Bucks held a 4-2 edge in corners and a 6-5 advantage in shots.
“We came out extremely strong in the second half,” Hughes said. “We had numerous opportunities, and unfortunately, this afternoon we were not able to find the back of the cage.”
Hughes lauded the standout effort of forward Erick Fiorelli.
“He played an extremely strong game and was offensively making lots of great plays and opening up opportunities for the Bucks,” she said.
The Bucks season is far from over. They will face the loser of Friday’s semifinal game pitting Central Bucks South and Wissahickon in a third place game and will advance to the state tournament next week.
“It’s a disappointing loss, but Unionville played a better game than we did today, and they were able to capitalize on their opportunities,” Hughes said. “Now we will concentrate on the upcoming consolation game and finishing as best we can now in District One.
“I’m proud of how far we’ve come and the journey this team as a whole has been on since August, but I don’t want the team to settle. I want – and fully believe – that this team is capable of a strong state tournament showing, and I am hoping we will play with confidence and have a strong consolation game in order to lock up third in our strong district.”
DISTRICT ONE AA
#2 UPPER PERKIOMEN 2, #3 SPRINGFIELD (MONTCO) 1
When the Spartans took the field for Thursday’s semifinal contest, it was the first time they had set foot on a field since last Friday.
“Coming off of no practice and our last game was on grass, the game was a little too fast for us today,” coach Linda Nixon said. “We just weren’t up to speed.
“We just could not get our small passing game going. We were just half a step behind. We did some nice things, but I really thought Upper Perk played well today. I’m not faulting the kids at all. I just thought it was really unfortunate in an important game to not let the kids have one day of practice.”
The Spartans connected on their first shot of the game with 11:08 remaining in the first half when Juli Cardamone turned a pass from Adrienne Baer into a goal. That lead held up until the 2:23 mark when Upper Perk’s Casey Umstead turned a penalty stroke into a goal, sending the teams into the intermission deadlocked 1-1. The Indians won it when Mackenzie Lederer scored during corner play with 23:58 remaining in the second half.
“Upper Perk is definitely a turf team,” Nixon said. “They play on turf all the time. I just wish we could have played better. I wish we had turf to play on.”
The Tribe had 13 corners to just two for the Spartans.
“We were giving up a lot of corners on just not moving our feet,” Nixon said. “But we also made some spectacular plays.”
Making a pair of spectacular goal line stops was Katie Morris. Spartan goalie Kim Machalette was credited with eight saves.
The Spartans will return to action on Friday when they will face Gwynedd-Mercy at Plymouth Whitemarsh at 5 p.m. Gwynedd lost to top-seeded Villa Maria Academy 5-2 in the other semifinal contest. A berth in the state tournament is at stake for the winner.
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