Scholastic Notes

Delmarva region

MARYLAND

MARYLAND FINALS DEVELOP DIFFERENT DOUBLEHEADER PERSONALITIES

The four state championships contested by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) were once again split into a pair of doubleheaders because the University of Maryland held an NCAA regional at its Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

As such, the two doubleheaders developed distinct personalities. The Monday doubleheader featured the exercise of revenge for past matches, and the Tuesday doubleheader featured breakthroughs.

There was much talk before the Class 1A match between Rising Sun (Md.) and Pocomoke City (Md.) about the match the two teams played in 2005, a game won by Pocomoke 1-0.

But the teams played a 3-3 draw after extra time and the schools were declared co-champions. As is sometimes the case in drawn title matches, one team was happier than the other, and in this case, Rising Sun was much more exuberant, even though the Warriors had won their 14th state championship, one of the all-time great hauls of state championship hardware.

"I love my brother to death, mind," qualifies Pocomoke head coach Sue Pusey, "but tying a game is like kissing your brother. It's not a disappointment, but we want to win -- that's the way we think the game should be played."

Especially given the fact that, in this see-saw battle, Pocomoke had the lead in the last 90 seconds only to yield a goal from Rising Sun's Caitlin Gibb, her second of the match. And that Rising Sun had much the better chances in the 20 minutes of extra time.

The game perhaps had the wildest second half in the history of the MPSSAA tournament as the teams exchanged five goals.

"I was happy the way that we would score just after they did, which showed me they wanted to win," Pusey said. "They played the game, and they were determined."

"We're a team that does not quit, and we come back when we are down," said Rising Sun head coach Gail Dillaway. "It was like that for this group from the very first scrimmage. With a little more luck, we would have had that game."

Rising Sun struck another blow for the far Northeastern corner of Maryland, and may have more ambitious plans in future. The Tigers were unafraid to cross borders in 2006, playing one Delaware team and three Pennsylvania squads, including long-time power Unionville (Pa.).

"Hey," Dillaway says, "we'd like to play (Lititz) Warwick if we can. I make my AD get me the hardest games we can get, because we can learn something from every game we play. It doesn't matter if we win or we lose."

In the Monday nightcap, two titans of Maryland public-school hockey faced each other. It was the first championship contested between Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.) and Severna Park (Md.) since their classic match in 2004 which saw B-CC convert an untimed penalty corner at the end of double overtime.

The Falcons used their speed and quickness to take an early lead, only to see a plucky Barons team tee up a late first-half corner and score on its first and only shot of the match.

"Our team kept on playing tight, and we do that all the time," said B-CC head coach Amy Wood, "and I asked them, 'What are you doing?' And we went right back down there and we were in the game."

Mindful of the 2004 result, Severna Park kept attacking in waves, hitting open spaces, and finding seams in B-CC's rearguard. Indeed, the Falcons' game-winner in the second half was due to their change of rhythm and skill in the circle, resulting in an easy 2-v-1 inside the stroke mark. Severna Park's opener was much the same as precise passing picked apart the defense.

"I've got 11 seniors, and they wanted it for them, the rest of the team, and they wanted it for me; we have a close bond," said the legendary Falcon head coach Lil Shelton. "They couldn't defend us."

"Severna Park capitalized on our mistakes, and that's what good teams do," Wood said. "They had excellent passing."

On Tuesday, Parkton Hereford (Md.) celebrated a return to the state finals for the first time since 2004. To a Bull, team members will still tell you they had been denied a state 2A final berth through fickle fate and were determined just to make it back to College Park.

"They didn't want to leave any unanswered questions, like last year," said Hereford head coach Tammy Mundie. "Our goal was to get to this final game, because we thought we got robbed last year."

The penalty-stroke shootout loss to Patuxent (Md.) was locked away, and a new resolve built. That resolve was especially evident in a 2-0 win over Glenelg (Md.) -- the same score between the two teams when they met at The Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex in 2004.

Lindsay Riordon's goal in the seventh minute -- on the Bulls' first offensive charge into the circle -- and Lauren Meadowcroft's brace in the 17th was all the team needed

In the nightcap, Gaithersburg Quince Orchard (Md.) slogged through a goalless regulation and first overtime, fighting against a tenacious Edgewater South River (Md.) defense led by goalkeeper Virginia Jorden, sweeper/corner trailer Hope Batista, and wingback/corner post Heather Bresnahan.

You see, there is history when it comes to these players. Batista and Bresnahan are two of the holdovers from the corner defense unit from the Seahawks' 2004 and 2005 state championship teams. Virginia Jorden is the younger sister of Irene, who now plies her trade for The Catholic University of America.

The fine Seahawk corner defenders remained as airtight as a submarine on the evening, yielding no corner goals and just about as many shots on cage. Casey Disharoon was splended as the team's corner flyer and Allison Oser played off Bresnahan's opposite post.

And for large parts of regulation, the Seahawk players showed the ability to let the ball do the work on the turf. Quince Orchard would turn to attacking midfielder Emily Ellenberger to carry the ball, but the Hawks would close down on her. Reis would slide Ellenberger to sweeper in the second half to allow her to build up attacks, create numbers problems, and be the player coming in late into the offensive third.

The game would remain scoreless through regulation and the first half of overtime. But the game would turn in the second overtime when Hawks' coach Katie Corcoran had to, by rule, sub out her first six players for a fresh set of six. She had to split defensive assignments and could not keep her entire corner defense unit on the pitch.

"I had to look at who was tired, too," Corcoran said. "If they were spent, they got a rest (until the second OT), and whoever could go, did."

Meanwhile, Quince Orchard head coach Jenna Reis was in the huddle, imploring her players. "I don't care if you dribble it in, I don't care whether you pass it in, just get it in," she said.

Sophomore Alissa Peterson got the message, Five minutes into the second half of overtime, she snared a rebound off an errant clear and sent the ball into the cage, and send the vocal Quince Orchard supporters into hysterics.

It was the Cougars' first undisputed state championship in field hockey.

"We wanted to go out there and attack in the overtime," said Cougars' head coach Jenna Reis. "And we have a good goalie, and with our speed, we can take that gamble."

The Cougars have taken Reis' alma mater, the University of Maryland, as role models. The team wears the Under Armour brand, runs their player introductions just like the Terps do, and in the 2006 final, even used the same bench (at the west end of the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex) that the Maryland varsity uses. And at the end of the match, Reis received congratulations from Terp alums Emily Beach and Tiffany Marsh

"Well, when you've got the best in your back yard, who better to emulate?" said Reis. "The players come to the games and learn these little nuances."

SEVERNA PARK GETS BENEFIT OF UMPIRING DECISION TO REMAIN UNBEATEN

In the 60th minute of a game pitting Annapolis Broadneck (Md.) against Severna Park (Md.), Broadneck's Courtney Tomchik scored, whereupon a wild celebration ensued.

While the celebration was going on, the ball was flipped to the center line, whereupon Severna Park, having not called timeout, started play. The Falcons scored a mere 15 seconds later. The game ended up a 1-all draw after extra time.

"He called them for delay of game and that's why we could legally do that," Severna Park head coach Lil Shelton told The Annapolis Capital.

The problem with the situation is threefold. One, Tomchik missed out on the time-honored process of identifying who scored a goal by not picking up the ball and returning it to the center dot.

Two, the clock stops on all goals in Federation play, so there is no actual delay in gameplay.

And three, the FIH Rules of Hockey says that a center pass cannot be whistled (as opposed to struck) until all 11 members of both teams are in their half of the pitch. Now, in the past two to three years, the whistle has allowed the offensive team to invade the other half of the pitch.

"My team played with so much heart today," Broadneck head coach Jen Parks told The Capital. "I love every single one of them. They deserved to win this game and in my book they won. I will protest this game."

Stay tuned.

INTERNECINE IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE, POCOMOKE AND PARKSIDE CLASH

Located a scant 15 miles from each other deep in the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Salisbury Parkside (Md.) and Pocomoke (Md.) won state championships in 2005.

And there were plenty of smiles even leading up to their 2006 marchup, even though there is a family angle to the friendly rivalry.

Sue Pusey, who has won 11 championships with Pocomoke City and is one of only six known undefeated and unscored-upon teams in field hockey since 1968, gave Jodi Byrd her first field hockey stick at the age of 1.

Now Jodi Hollamon, she coaches at Parkside. And she's still a great fan of her aunt.

"She instilled the values of being disciplined and hard work," Hollamon tells The Delmarva Daily Times. "They have a history and winning tradition, and I'm trying bring that here."

The hard work paid off handsomely when the teams met in September 2006. A hard blast off a 1-up corner from Katy Lamboni took a bounce off a tuft of turf and went into the cage in the 38th minute.

"It seemed like it was a little too late, because then it looked like we were tired," Pusey tells The Daily Times. "We were pressuring, we did some nice things. But it can't be some: it's got to be more consistent."

NYBORG MEMORIAL AN EXERCISE IN FALCONRY

Severna Park (Md.), a team which has won 15 state champions, has had a very strange beginning to the 2006 season.

The team was acclaimed to be one of the best in the country coming in, then was perceived to have taken a huge hit when rising star Hayley Rausch was ruled out for the season with an injury.

Then, rainouts on scheduled matchdays kept the Falcons from the pitch for days. Some 24 days since the start of practice, Severna Park played three games in 24 hours.

First, it was a 5-0 night game at Harwood Southern Anne Arundel (Md.). Then, matches the very next day at the Sally Nyborg Memorial Tournament.

Severna Park made quick work of host Baltimore Roland Park (Md.) in an 8-0 morning contest. However, the Falcons had to come from behind to beat Alexandria St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (Va.) 2-1. Emilee West had both goals for Severna Park, in the 45th and 55th minutes.

In other games at the Nyborg Memorial, Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.) outlasted Roland Park 2-0 and lost a close decision to St. Stephen's/St. Agnes.

IAAM A WIDE-OPEN AFFAIR

The schools in the top flight of independent schools in and around Baltimore are in a strange state of flux in 2006. The usual duopoly of Baltimore Bryn Mawr (Md.) and Baltimore Roland Park (Md.) is no longer in force. The early favorite? Owings Mills Garrison Forest (Md.).

The Grizzlies are led by senior fullback Keegan Billick, daughter of Baltimore Ravens football coach Brian Billick. She kept Bryn Mawr off the board in a steady rain with an almost Ray Lewis-like effort in a 2-0 win.

"We're so deep as a team," Billick tells The Baltimore Sun of her defense. "There's such a huge wall you can't really get past it."

HOWARD COUNTY GOING TO TWO-DIVISION FORMAT

Between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, rapid growth in what can be called the "tween-urbia" of the I-95 corridor has seen numerous schools being constructed since the mid-1990s.

As a result, there is a change in the structure of the county's field hockey competition this year. Because there are now 12 teams with the opening of Ellicott City Marriott's Ridge (Md.) this fall, the schools will play in a two-division conference, with each team playing their divisional foes once, and every team in the other division except one once. That leaves each team two non-conference games, plus an optional in-season tournament.

Makes you wish someone would get a clue and add to the number of games field hockey teams could play in Maryland, doesn't it?

Delaware

HENLOPEN WAKING THE ECHOES

For Lewes Cape Henlopen (Del.) and head coach Amanda Jacona, it's all about knowing the Lingo.

Especially when it's Lillie Lingo, younger sister of Team USA's Carrie Lingo, who has been a prominent player for the top-ranked team in Delaware.

Lillie Lingo provided the assist to Brienna Faust for the first of her two goals in a 3-1 win over Delmar (Del.). It was sweet revenge for Cape, who saw their dreams of a third state championship were nixed by Delmar in last year's DIAA tournament.

"They're a good team, and we knew that this was going to be a battle because they knocked us out last year," Jacona tells The Wilmington News-Journal, "so we were ready for it."

Virginia

FRANK W. COX REASSERTS ITSELF AGAINST GUTSY MAURY

To understand the breadth and enormity of Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox (Va.) and its 2-1 state championship final win over Norfolk Maury (Va.), you need to consider some numbers.

The Falcons made every state championship final from 1989 to 1999, winning 10 of those 11 championship games, including seven straight from 1989 to 1995, at the time a national record.

But since the beginning of the 2002 season, when legendary coach Nancy Fowlkes left the coaching reins to Julie Swain, it has not been smooth flying for the Falcons and their faithful fans.

There were uncharacteristic losses to teams they would normally have beaten by five goals or more. There was even that ill-fated venture into the Sun Devil Invitational some years ago which saw Cox finish at the bottom of the placings in the two-day tournament.

Cox also hadn't won a state title, though it did come close in 2004, losing by a goal to Virginia Beach Princess Anne (Va.).

You could forgive Swain if she feels as though she's been through a tough time emerging from Fowlkes' considerable shadow.

"Nancy's still a part of this program. I played for her and coached under her, and she helps me; if I need advice, I'll go to her," Swain says. "But the good thing is that, even from the first year, I felt as though she has given me so much, that it's been my program from the very start. We've been building each and every year, and have made the state tournament the last three years."

But there was a different swagger, a different confidence about the 2006 Cox team. Even after Carly Rosenmeier, the team's center forward, went down with a knee injury early in the season, the rest of the team more than compensated.

This especially was the case for senior attacker Kaitlyn Hiltz, who had the last of her 50 goals on the season on a corner blast.

Hiltz is the 18th player in the recorded history of American high-school field hockey to have 50 goals in a season. As such, she joins field hockey luminaries such as U.S. internationals Tracey Fuchs, Kris Fillat, Carla Tagliente, and a fellow Cox graduate.

"Kim Miller," breathed Hiltz. "It would be a honor to be on a national team like her, but I want to see what I can do in college first, and see where that takes me."

Unlike most of the 50-goal scorers in Federation history, the University of Virginia-bound Hiltz does not have the hyperaggressiveness of Miller, Fuchs, Michelle Vizzuso or Kelly Fitzpatrick. But she does have an ability to read spaces combined with a tremendous long-range shot.

"Kaitlyn has a lot more finesse, whereas Kim was one of those get-down-on-her-belly kind of players," Swain says. "Her improvement from last year to this year has been phenomenal."

Hiltz's 50th of the 2006 season have Cox a 2-0 lead, which was halved a few minutes later when Maury freshman forward Lindsey Vellines -- a thorn in Cox's side all afternoon -- knocked in a bouncing diagonal.

Maury, however, would never draw level. Cox's defense, led by backs Stephanie Fee, Jenn Harr and Brianna Milne, were superb in blunting the Commodore attack. Milne, playing an almost free-safety type of sweeper, would come some 30 yards outside of the circle to keep Maury's forwards from building up attacks.

"They like me to anticipate where it comes and anticipate the through ball," Milne said. "This tournament, Maury put up a great fight."

"She played out of her mind today," Swain says of her first-year varsity player. "She has stepped up her game every time out. she has incredible skills and she's getting more and more poised, and getting us on attack."

Milne's strength, especially tackling Maury's right-side attack, prevented the ball from getting to the ever-dangerous Vellines for long stretches of the second term.

"She's grown into the position," said Maury head coach Beanie Schleicher. "And yep, she'll be around another three years."

The Commodores, having won an overtime match the previous day over Stafford Mountain View (Va.), never quit. It was the Commodores' first state title game appearance.

TOURNEY "TIPPING POINT" TILTS TABLES FOR SOME TEAMS

The way Virginia qualifies its eight state tournament participants involves a layered qualifying system in which a losing team does not necessarily go home.

Winning a regional semifinal in one of the four regions is, hence, the "tipping point" for getting into the state tournament. The winner is guaranteed at least two games (the regional final and the state quarterfinal), while the losing team has 10 months to ruminate over the mistakes made over 60 minutes.

For Chantilly Westfield (Va.), the previous 10 months was all a reflection of determination and pride after dropping its Northern Regional semifinal last year to Falls Church Marshall (Va.) and the force of nature that was Samantha Mills.

Westfield came all the way back to the regional semifinal and bested Langley (Va.) 2-1. Westfield executed splendidly on its corners, scoring in the 14th and 32nd minutes to take a 1-0 lead.

But the Saxons were not ready to pack up their instruments and head home. Far from it. Junior Katie Knapp, a thorn in Westfield's paw all evening, scored a backhand goal that was deflected in by the Bulldogs' backline minutes after Westfield's second.

But that was the only mistake that a defensive corps led by goalkeeper Jennifer Wisniewski would make. One of a pair of twin senior netminders, she made seven stops, including a couple of flurries late in the match that, in normal circumstances, would be disastrous.

Wisniewski elected to log in front of the goal line on a couple of scrambles off of Langley thrusts, but never allowed the ball to be pinned under her for a stroke.

Now the master of tipping-point matches the last half-decade or so in regional semifinal play has been Fairfax W.T. Woodson (Va.). Head coach Andy Muir had won his last four tipping-point matches, but there had to have been some doubt creeping into the Cavaliers' camp when Chantilly (Va.) held the ball for the first 16 minutes of the game and scored on a penalty corner deflection over all-star goalkeeper Liz Gericke to take the lead.

Woodson then played perhaps the most incendiary hockey of the Northern Virginia season, scored three goals to end the half in a 4-1 victory.

Chester Thomas Dale (Va.) had an easy time in the Central Region quarterfinal against a Cinderella team, that of Mechanicsville Lee-Davis (Va.). The first-year team, coached by former Lynchburg College skipper Courtney Jones, had a splendid run, winning the Capital District and making it into the regional semis before falling 4-0 to Dale.

In the other semifinal, Midlothian James River (Va.) bested the lone magnet school remaining, Richmond Maggie Walker Governor's School (Va.), 5-3.

In the Northwest Region, the story was that of a new field hockey program making good on its potential. Stafford Mountain View (Va.) edged Culpeper (Va.) 2-1 in its first-ever tipping-point match.

Mountain View is one of the three relatively new schools which have opened in Stafford County to accomodate rapid growth in the exurbs of Washington, D.C. As such, its team has already begun reaping the rewards of offseason play as well as retaining the best qualities of the hockey teams out of which the Mountain View district was drawn.

One of these players is junior Kristina Morris, who had both first-half goals.

"Honestly, it's the best feeling in the world," Morris tells The Free Lance-Star. "It's like Christmas. I've never been so happy."

But it was up to the Mountain View defense to hold the lead. Chelsea Chlebo held off a Blue Devil barrage in the second half. One ball was deflected in, but an advancement was called.

In the other Northwest semifinal, defending state champion Stafford (Va.) crushed newcomer Woodbridge Forest Park (Va.) 10-1. The Indians, winners of 45 straight matches, were supposed to be down a notch after losing United States Coach of the Year Robin Woodie, graduating a raft of senior leaders, and seeing one rising senior transfer to a school in Pennsylvania.

But first-year head coach Autumn Arrowood has done a splendid job in making the right adjustments. One was putting the brilliant forward Kimmy Sullivan at center midfield.

"She just has a presence," Arrowood tells The Free Lance-Star. "She listens to the people around her. It's exactly what a center-mid should do--she's the feeder. And if she has to, she's not afraid to take shots."

She inserted three neatly into the goal cage to lead the rout.

In the Southeast, Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox (Va.) was the No. 4 team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10 heading into the postseason, and had every right to worry about Menchville (Va.), playing in its first regional tournament in 13 years.

But the Falcons scored two goals in the first 12 minutes, then added a goal at the stroke of time in the first half to run out 7-1 winners.

"The bottom kind of fell out," Menchville head coach Melanie Haas tells The Hampton Roads Daily Press. "They had an answer for everything."

In the match, Kaitlyn Hiltz stretched her goal-scoring streak to 19 matches.

In the other Southeast tipper, Norfolk Maury (Va.) stopped Virginia Beach Ocean Lakes (Va.) 1-0.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Orange (Va.) Hornets, after playing at an elementary school 10 miles away from the high school since the program began in 1990, now have a slice of heaven at the middle school across the street. A new Bermuda grass field is expected to accentuate the team's skills and prepare them even better for postseason competition.

�You�re talking spending at least a half an hour every day on the bus," head coach Stephen Grabeel tells The Charlottesville Daily Progress. "Not only does that take practice time, but for the kids themselves, who have been in school all day, it�s nice to go right out on your playing field. I guess after 15 years, its nice to head out there and see something like that."

Grabeel is in his 16th season of coaching the team, but his wife Tricia will not be joining him as co-coach for the first time in seven years.

For last year's notes from this region, click here.