HIGH SCHOOL FIELD HOCKEY
AUGUST 17, 2007
Ballard on a public mission in Apple tourney final
By
NATHAN CHAMBERS
BeyondTheDerby.com
Ballard will be the first public school team to play in the Apple Tournament final since 1997 - and just the third in the 35-year history of the season-opening event - when the Bruins step onto Sacred Heart’s Horton Field on Saturday to challenge the three-time defending champion Valkyries.
That point is not lost on Ballard coach Kelly Logsdon, who was playing in a Sacred Heart uniform when the Valkyries beat the Bruins 10 years ago. Forever linked with one of the great traditions in Kentucky high school field hockey, she now wants to start a new one in a much difference place.
Just look at the history of the Apple Tournament, which former Sacred Heart athletic director and coach Bunny Dougherty started in 1973 to honor the 100th birthday of field hockey legend Constance Applebee. Sacred Heart (11), Collegiate (10), Kentucky Country Day (8), and Assumption (5) account for all 34 previous championships.
“Sacred Heart has that tradition, Assumption has that tradition, Collegiate has that tradition, KCD has that tradition,” said Logsdon, whose Bruins pulled out a 2-1 win over one such team - Collegiate - in the semifinals on Friday, three days after a 4-3 win over another such team - KCD - in the quarterfinals.
“I think what the public schools have trouble with is building that tradition. It takes pushing the girls beyond what they know they can do.”
So, right on cue, here comes reigning state champion Sacred Heart, which has not lost an Apple Tournament game since the 2003 final and has not lost a game of any kind since the 2005 state semifinals.
The Valkyries dominated archrival Assumption for most of the first half in their semifinal showdown on Friday, taking a 3-0 lead into the break, and finished with a relatively lopsided 3-1 victory.
That drew a compliment of sorts from Assumption coach Debbie Judd.
“They played like Assumption normally does, and we didn’t,” she said.
During halftime of the Ballard-Collegiate game, members of 1973 Apple Tournament champion KCD and runner-up Collegiate were honored at midfield.
Ballard 2, Collegiate 1
Both teams played extra minutes in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Senior Amanda Seeley’s goal in overtime lifted the Bruins over KCD, and the Amazons survived a flick-off with Mercy.
Two things did not change on Friday. Seeley scored the game-winning goal again, and a stroke decided Collegiate’s fate.
Ballard was awarded a penalty stroke with 21:07 left, and Seeley hit the lower left corner of the cage behind Collegiate junior goalie Cece Lindsey (11 saves) for a 2-1 lead.
“Last week I stayed after practice and worked on that for about two hours,” Seeley said. “I was thinking, ‘Put it in the corner,’ and I just put it where I like it.”
That put her team where she likes it.
“We’re out here to win, and nobody is going to take it away from us,” she said.
The Bruins want to win for more than their own satisfaction. Former teammate Megan Wood, who graduated from Ballard last spring, has been diagnosed with leukemia and is hospitalized with pneumonia and other ailments resulting from her treatment. The players have been wearing a wristband that bears her initials, and junior Molly Dean donated hair to Locks of Love in Wood’s honor.
“She’s a fighter,” said Ballard senior Kathy Noel, who visited Wood before the game. “When you go to the hospital, you can tell she’s so strong. We have to be strong for her, too. We’re going to win for her.”
Ballard trailed 1-0 after Collegiate senior Sara Sanders blasted a shot past junior goalie Lara Williams (5 saves) with 20:10 left in the first half. But the Bruins tied it when Seeley, off a pass from senior Taylor Barr, assisted senior Ali Pulliam’s goal with 6:56 remaining in the half.
“We’ve been having trouble getting started every game,” Logsdon said. “It’s almost like we have to be scored on first to get going.”
Collegiate coach Wendy Martin found the opposite to be the problem for her players.
“It was frustrating,” she said. “For the first 15 or 16 minutes, we were playing really well. Then our intensity dropped, and we didn’t get it back.”
Sacred Heart 3, Assumption 1
Recall the previous three Apple Tournament finals, in all of which the Valkyries beat the Rockets. The 2004 and 2005 finals went to flick-offs, and last season’s game was decided by a goal scored in the second half.
This game was not nearly as close. Sacred Heart, which has outscored its three tournament opponents 18-1, had a 12-4 advantage on shots on goal and a 14-5 advantage on penalty corners.
But don’t ask Sacred Heart coach Liz Lewis to gloat.
“It’s always good to win,” she said. “I like to beat anybody. I don’t really discriminate.”
She’d rather pick apart the victory. For instance, she wasn’t at all pleased that Assumption senior Lauren Schmeing, a University of Louisville recruit, got a clear path to Sacred Heart’s cage barely two minutes into the second half. She took a pass from senior Lauren Noe and scored with a scorching shot from just inside the circle.
“You can’t leave her open,” Lewis said. “She’s deadly.”
That play was part of a larger problem in her eyes.
“We played very poorly in the first part of the second half,” Lewis said. “We regained our composure, but we can’t have those mental lapses.”
Seniors Taylor Collins and Whitney Ising and junior Olivia Miller each had a goal and an assist for the Valkyries. Senior goalie Meredith Golden needed to make only four saves, thanks to good protection from seniors Jennifer Bohnert and Kristen Lococo. And Senior Devanny Kuhn covered Schmeing well.
The Valkyries kept Assumption’s goalie, senior Jennifer McGill (9 saves), more busy.
“We didn’t play well for us, even for the preseason,” Judd said.
Sacred Heart now is one step closer to its fourth straight title, which KCD last accomplished in 1991. But the Valkyries are not taking it for granted.
“Each team is a new team, each game is a new game,” Collins said.
