HIGH SCHOOL FIELD HOCKEY
September 11, 2007
NOTES: Mercy, Collegiate on opposite ends of fate
By
NATHAN CHAMBERS
BeyondTheDerby.com
Last week was a wild one for Mercy and Collegiate, and their experiences of it probably could not have been any more different.
Both teams played a pair of games decided by strokes. While Mercy went 2-0, Collegiate went 0-2.
For Mercy (10-1), such a week was long overdue. The Jaguars lost two flick-offs - the second a season-ender in the state quarterfinals - to Kentucky Country Day last year, and Collegiate knocked them out of the Apple Tournament in a quarterfinal flick-off last month.
“It was great to be on the winning end,” Mercy coach Kelly Setser said. “It was a confidence builder for the girls as much as anything else.”
Mercy’s reversal of fortune began on Collegiate’s field on Champions Trace Lane last Tuesday, when the Jaguars avenged their only loss of the season.
Chelsea Metzger tied it at 2-2 with 1:18 left in regulation, and, after a scoreless overtime period, Mercy outscored the Amazons 3-2 in the strokes phase. Ball State University recruit Katie Norris, Mary Alice Pierce, and Amy Wimsatt converted their strokes, and goalie Katie Spradlin made two saves.
The Jaguars then led Ballard 2-1 on Thursday before the Bruins tied it on Taylor Barr’s goal in the last 10 minutes. After another scoreless overtime, Spradlin made three saves and Allison Burns, Pierce, and Wimsatt each scored as Mercy won the flick-off 3-0.
“Strokes are an individual skill,” Setser said. “There’s only so much practice time you can put into it because there are so many other aspects of the game you need to focus on. So we talked about putting in extra time. The girls did it, and it paid off for them.”
For Collegiate (6-5), the week was all about blown leads. The Amazons gave away another 2-1 edge on Thursday, when KCD’s Kelly Beam tied it with about five minutes left in regulation.
“That’s what’s frustrating,” Collegiate coach Wendy Martin said.
KCD won the flick-off 3-2.
Martin noted that the loss to KCD was Collegiate’s sixth game in seven days. “I think we were a little tired,” she said.
But she thought the Amazons played well in both games, and she saw at least one other positive outcome from the week.
“We should be well prepared if we have to go into overtime in the tournament,” she said.
Louisville teams headed to Chicago
Two weeks after Sacred Heart, Collegiate and Ballard swept the top three pools at the Gateway Classic in St. Louis, the defending state champion Valkyries will lead another formidable contingent of Louisville teams to an out-of-state tournament on Friday.
Assumption, Kentucky Country Day, and Manual will join Sacred Heart in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park for the two-day Huskie Invitational. The Valkyries won it last year, and Assumption and Ballard also reached the semifinals.
The tournament will feature 16 teams divided into four pools. Assumption is in Pool A; Manual is in Pool B; Sacred Heart is in Pool C; and KCD is in Pool D. Each team will play three games within its pool.
The winners of Pool A and Pool D will meet in one semifinal, and the winners of Pool B and Pool C will meet in the other semifinal. The semifinal winners will play each other in the final.
See the season schedule for more game details.
CAL Classic All-Tournament Team
CAL Classic finalists Male and Christian Academy each placed three players on the All-Tournament Team that was announced on Saturday.
Joanna Foresman, Jill Green and Jamie Kraemer were selected from Male, which beat the host Centurions 1-0 in overtime to win the tournament.
Lacey Jurich, Madison Petit, and Ellen West were selected from Christian Academy.
Also chosen were Seneca’s Emily Milby, St. Francis’ Hazel Levine, and Presentation’s Caitlin Maguire.
(Editor’s note: Coaches and authorized team representatives are strongly encouraged to submit scores, stats, news items and other story ideas to Nathan Chambers.)
