HIGH SCHOOL FIELD HOCKEY
AUGUST 21, 2007
Progress reports positive after Valkyries beat KCD
By
NATHAN CHAMBERS
BeyondTheDerby.com
Don’t call it a rematch.
Sacred Heart and Kentucky Country Day had more relevant concerns at Horton Field on Tuesday, when the two clashed for the first time since the 2006 state final last October 26. The teams were back on the same field from which they departed quite dissatisfied after their most recent games - which, in both cases, included Ballard.
Sacred Heart coach Liz Lewis had been upset that her players showed little emotion in the Apple Tournament final on Saturday, even though the Valkyries beat Ballard 1-0 for their fourth straight title. And KCD coach Amy Charasika had thought the Bearcats “gave the game away” in a 4-3 overtime loss to Ballard in the Apple Tournament quarterfinals last Tuesday.
So it didn’t seem to occur to either that the final score was the same as it was 10 months ago. After defending state champion Sacred Heart defeated KCD 3-1 again, both coaches were thinking too much - and too optimistically - about the present game to care.
“I’m pleased with our overall intensity,” Lewis said. “The girls came out with a lot more emotion. Everything was better, really.”
“I’m very encouraged,” Charasika said. “I’m not excited about the outcome, obviously. But the improvement from our last game to this game was 10-fold.”
The Valkyries (5-0), who have won 33 games in a row since a loss to archrival Assumption in the 2005 state semifinals, still struggled to convert penalty corner opportunities. They had 16 corners - compared to KCD’s two - and turned just two of those into goals.
“It’s great to get corners, to get yourself into that position,” Lewis said. “But if you can’t score on them…”
Sacred Heart’s ninth corner - the last play of the first half - produced its first goal, which came off the stick of junior Kristen Henn (pictured, at left, alongside KCD's Sydney White).
Senior Taylor Collins made it 2-0 with 18:35 left, when she followed a teammate’s shot off the pads of KCD junior goalie Sarah Anderson (14 saves) and poked the ball into the right corner.
Junior Olivia Miller assisted junior Jessica Lindner on Sacred Heart’s third goal, which came on a corner with 9:12 left.
The Bearcats (1-2) finally broke the shutout in the final minute when junior Kelly Beam scored off an assist from senior Gray Robinson.
Collins played while wearing a Steri-Strip over a gash above her swollen right eye, an injury she incurred during warm-ups when a shot ricocheted off senior goalie Meredith Golden (9 saves) and struck her in the head.
She was not the only casualty on Tuesday. KCD senior Alexandra Siefke, who needed stitches above her left eye after she took a stick to her head in the loss to Ballard last week, was hit there again with 6:06 left and could not return to the field.
Lindner - who, like Henn, is a former KCD Middle School student-athlete - put Sacred Heart’s victory in perspective.
“We’ll take the win, soak it all in, and try to win the next game,” she said.
