HIGH SCHOOL FIELD HOCKEY
AUGUST 22, 2007
District Three Preview: Collegiate chasing Rockets
By
NATHAN CHAMBERS
BeyondTheDerby.com
Sacred Heart is Assumption’s fiercest rival, and that isn’t likely to change given the history between the schools in many different sports.
But the foundation of another great rivalry - between Assumption and Collegiate - has been laid.
Two of the best teams in the state, year in and year out, with the two longest-tenured coaches in Kentucky high school field hockey, the Rockets and the Amazons are beginning their second season together in District Three and are based in athletic complexes on opposite sides of Champions Trace Lane off Newburg Road.
Assumption has been more successful in recent years, winning three of the last five state titles. But Wendy Martin, in her 27th year as Collegiate’s coach, hopes that’s about to change.
“I think we can give them a good run for their money,” she said.
The two other teams in the district - Male and Atherton - almost assuredly cannot, a reality that inevitably will direct more eyes to the Assumption-Collegiate rivalry.
Male, which lost 8-0 to the Amazons in the district semifinals last season, has only three returning starters: senior midfielder Jamie Kraemer and senior forwards Jill Green and Jen Seewer. Coach Amy Shumate is counting on junior midfielder Danielle Jones and sophomore forwards Joanna Foresman and Carrie Walker, as well.
Atherton, on the other hand, has nine returning starters and will be much improved a year after losing 15-0 to the Rockets in the district semifinals. First-year coach Cassidy Loew only has two seniors in that group - goalie Lasue Karne and midfielder Simone Mullalley - which means even better times are likely farther down the road.
Much the same can be said about Collegiate, which lost 2-1 to Assumption in the district final and then inexplicably got thumped 8-0 by eventual state champion Sacred Heart in the quarterfinals last season. The Amazons had two freshmen and a sophomore in its starting lineup last season and is still loaded with talent in the lower grades.
Martin, however, thinks the young players will pay dividends immediately. “It could be a fun season,” she said.
Sophomore midfielder Taylor Hodge, sophomore forward Margaret McConnell, and junior forward Sarah Jessee are among Collegiate’s five returning starters. Jessee had 12 goals and nine assists; McConnell had 12 goals and eight assists; and Hodge, who scored three goals in the lacrosse team’s state championship victory in May, had seven goals last season.
The other returning starters are underrated senior midfielder Sara Sanders and senior defender Liz Ratliff, the lacrosse team’s goalie.
Assumption’s senior class is its nucleus in Debbie Judd’s 18th year as coach. One senior in particular, midfielder Lauren Scheming (pictured), is the centerpiece as the Rockets try to get back to the top after losing 2-1 to Kentucky Country Day in the state semifinals last season.
Schmeing, who has committed to the University of Louisville, had 23 goals and 14 assists and was the only junior among the five Kentucky players selected to the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association High School All-Region Team last year. A physically imposing athlete, she has an excellent skills set and a bullet for a shot.
Other seniors include returning starters Lauren Noe, a forward who had 11 goals and six assists last year; Jennifer McGill, who actually split time in goal with then-senior Celia Johns but played better at the end of the season; and Leah Oberst, the only defender the Rockets have back. Junior forward Rachael Walz, who had nine goals and six assists, is the other returning starter.
“I think this team is capable of a state title,” Judd said.
