The way High Point's field hockey team swarmed to the ball and was seemingly everywhere it needed to be on Wednesday, Belvidere must have thought it was facing an opposing squad comprised of 20 players instead of the maximum 11.
When it was all said and done, the top-seeded Wildcats rolled to a 5-1 victory over the second-seeded County Seaters in a Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament semifinal on the turf in Vernon.
Junior forward Darby Smith scored a pair of goals and assisted on another to help High Point (15-0) remain unbeaten and advance to its first-ever tri-county final. The 'Cats will face the winner of Thursday's semifinal between Wallkill Valley and host Warren Hills for the championship on Saturday.
"I think [our team] was seeking some redemption after last year's [1-0 semifinal] loss [to Voorhees]," said veteran High Point coach Bev Keur, who picked up career win No. 306.
The game was shifted to Vernon Township High School due to the rainy weather and unplayable field conditions at High Point. Keur said she hated to give up the home field advantage, but it was the only option if the teams wanted to get the game in.
"We love playing on turf," said Keur, whose team posted a 6-1 win over Vernon here on Sept. 21. "It's such a beautiful passing game and I thought we did a nice job of [defending the wings] and making Belvidere play in the middle. We also communicated very well."
Belvidere (12-3), which had won seven straight coming into the contest, was seeking the program's first county title since 1992 and the school's first finals appearance since that season when it was just Hunterdon and Warren counties in the field.
Third-year coach Kristin Gaitan, a 1995 Newton graduate, said she was honored to get her team to its first HWS semifinal after taking over a program that went 6-11 before her arrival in 2009. She also wasn't happy about a late goal by Smith before halftime that was allowed to stand, even though both officials knew time had expired when it crossed. Nonetheless, High Point went into the half with a commanding 4-0 lead.
"The timekeeper told them that time was out, but they didn't hear her," Gaitan said. "My [coaching] staff and I heard the timer say time, but she wasn't on the field next to the official. It's a game-changer. I think it's a failure on the officials' part. Obviously, High Point is a great, skilled team with amazing players. We take this as a lesson."
After a dismal first half, Belvidere picked up the play in the final 30 minutes after falling behind, 5-0 on Nikki Hull's goal just 1:29 into the second stanza. In fact, the second-half stats were pretty even as each team managed four shots-on-goal, while Belvidere finished with a 5-3 advantage on corners.
Junior forward Nicole DeHerde finally got the Seaters on the board off a corner with 4:06 remaining in the contest.
"I told them that if we could've played the first 25 minutes like we played the last 10 minutes it could've been much closer," Gaitan said. "We needed a game like this."
Senior forward Tiffany McKenna, the Seaters' leading scorer with 23 goals, didn't start the game but did see action. Gaitan said she made a decision to bring McKenna, who is battling a quad injury, off the bench. Making matters worse was center midfielder Kasey Keenan going down early after taking a ball off her leg. Keenan did return.
High Point roared out of the gates and never really let off the gas until late in the second half.
Senior forward Brittany Papa gave High Point a quick 1-0 lead when she struck off the team's fourth penalty corner with 19:27 left in the first half, the first goal scored against Belvidere in three county games. The 'Cats executed a nice give-and-go on the play and Smith provided the assist before making it a 2-0 advantage on another corner just over six minutes later -- a rocket shot that she one-timed into the right corner of the cage.
Sophomore Carly Satter got into the scoring act with her second goal of the season, a ball that rolled between the legs of Belvidere goalie Josee Ritter with 7:40 left in the first half. Smith capped the half with her controversial goal.
Ritter was outstanding in the cage with 13 saves, despite giving up five goals. Senior back Shannon Havens had a great game defensively for High Point with a pair of goal-line saves.
Belvidere (12-3) 0 1 -- 1
High Point (15-0) 4 1 -- 5
Scoring
First half -- HP, Brittany Papa, 11th, (Bea Cannavale and Darby Smith), 19:27; HP, Smith, 18th, 13:20; HP, Carly Satter, 2nd, (Nikki Hull), 7:40; HP, Smith, 19th, (Satter), 0:00.
Second half -- HP, Hull, 14th, (Maureen Gill), 28:31; B, Nicole DeHerde, 8th, 4:06.
Shots -- Belvidere 7; High Point 18.
Saves -- Josee Ritter 13 (B); Kelsey Stoll 4, Shannon Havens 2 (HP).
Penalty corners -- Belvidere 7; High Point 9.
No comments:
Post a Comment