Scholastic Notes

Delmarva region

Delaware

CAESAR RODNEY BEATS ADVERSITY, CAPE HENLOPEN IN DIAA TITLE MATCH

Perhaps the most motivated field hockey team in all of 2004 was Camden Caesar Rodney (Del.). And, over the course of a 3-0 win over Lewes Cape Henlopen (Del.) in the Delaware state final, it was as though there were not just 11 players on the field on the Riders' side, but as many as 14.

Consider the black armbands made for Todd Sammonds, a high-school football player from rival Dover (Del.) who died in a car accident only a week before the state final, as well as Dennis Hudson, who also died in a car accident a year before. His picture was taped to the back of Kelsey Ward's stick.

"Tonight we were playing for our angels," Ward said. "When it started raining we knew they were looking on us because they were really excited.

"Tears of joy," added forward Rae Everson.

Consider also that star attacker Jaimie Brittingham was knocked out of the game in the first 19 seconds when a deflected ball hit her in the mouth, knocking out three teeth.

"That was a huge loss for us," said Riders head coach Debbie Windett. "But to come back like that is just incredible. Madison Leone, who came in for her, is a freshman, and she played like a champ."

"We just had to have a little Jaimie in us," said junior Jori Victory. "We all had to pitch in and do our part."

And also consider that the last game Caesar Rodney played at Rullo Stadium at the University of Delaware was a 1-0 loss to Wilmington Tower Hill.

"That game, we were disapppointed because we weren't ready to play on turf," said senior captain Casey Howard. "We knew we had to step it up from there on out."

Add to that that Caesar Rodney was going for its first state championship, defending the top seed in the Delaware State Interscholastic Athletic Association, and they were, along with Cape Henlopen, defending the honor and ability of downstate field hockey in the state.

Against all of that, Cape never had a chance, despite an heroic effort by the team's corner flyer Amanda Haxton, and corner trailer Danielle Renkin.

"They do an excellent job with that," said Cape Henlopen head coach Amanda Frampton. "They've been doing it all year for us."

But when the requisite defensive play on the corners was not made, Henlopen paid dearly. The Riders' key goal was scored with one second remaining in the first half Kate Windett, the coach's daughter, found the backboard with a resounding thud.

"I'm sure I would have had a different speech if they hadn't scored," said Frampton ruefully.

The Vikings were able to create chances when the skilled senior forward Lisa Williams had the ball in the midfielder and went against the run of play by taking the ball right at the heart of the Caesar Rodney defense.

But the execution was lacking, which was certainly not the case for the Riders. Howard and Everson would score on well-executed corners in the second half, keeping in mind the play of Haxton and Rankin.

"If you get by one by passing it down low, you eliminate two players," said Everson, whose slapper closed out the came and caused jubilation on the part of the CR supporters. "Just a simple pass."

Caesar Rodney's corner execution was such that they did not have a single raised ball on an initial corner shot for the entire match.

CONCORD STUNS ST. MARK'S

Wilmington St. Mark's (Del.) has one of the true phenoms of the game of field hockey in sophomore Katelyn Falgowski. But the school's home grass field has been so torn up that the school has been told it could not play at home during the 2004 post-season -- which could be a motivational blessing as well as an opportunity for the skilled Falgowski to shine on a level pitch.

"It's a shame that the girls worked all year to get a high seed, but won't get to play a home game," says St. Mark's coach Bill Eichinger. "Hopefully, this will be impetus for us to improve our field."

But in the state quarterfinal round, St. Mark's met its match after driving about as far as you can without leaving the physical borders of Wilmington. You see, St. Mark's -- a scant five or six miles from the Maryland border -- traveled almost to the border with Pennsylvania to play Wilmington Concord (Del.) in a state semifinal match, and lost 4-1.

"They were a step faster to the ball than us," Eichinger tells The Wilmington News-Journal. "We had opportunities to get to loose balls, but they beat us to them, and that put a lot of pressure on our defense. You look for a weakness, but we didn't find too many today."

SANFORD SHOCKS TOWER HILL AGAIN

Steph Smith has this thing for playing up to her competition, and Hockessin Sanford School (Del.) is all the better for it in the 2004 season.

Although Sanford and Wilmington Tower Hill have been in the top three in the statewide DelawareOnline.com field hockey survey the last few weeks of the season, the two teams met in the Delaware state quarterfinals. And it was a match worthy of a final.

But thankfully, it wasn't a final, or else -- thanks to the state's unique two-day "worst-case-scenario" overtime procedure -- they could still be playing.

As it happened, the game went goalless through regulation and extra time, and Sanford won the game 5-4 after two complete sets of penalty strokes.

Smith was the difference in the tiebreaker, snuffing out the Hillers' fourth and fifth stroke attempts, allowing teammates Hannah Kuranz and Alexis Esbitt to score in the second set while holding Tower Hill to one score in the second set of five strokes.

"She's one of the best high school goalies I've seen in a long time," Sanford coach Joan Samonisky tells The Wilmington News-Journal. "She's just come up big time after time for us this year."

The Sanford win stops Tower Hill's attempt at an all-time Federation best 15th state championship, and prevents the Hillers from winning their fifth straight.

YOUNG RIDERS ESCAPING "QUARTER CURSE"

OK, so you've all heard by now about the alleged "quarter curse," which has seen certain landmarks featured on American state quarters fall victim to misfortune -- a lightning strike to the Maryland statehouse, the collapse of the New Hampshire Man In The Mountain, the dropoff in popularity of the Indianapolis 500, the cancellation of the Washington Crossing the Delaware reenactment to New Jersey, and record low harvests for Georgia peaches and Vermont maple tree syrup.

Then there's the Delaware quarter. How many of you know that the man riding the horse is Caesar Rodney? (Or, who Caesar Rodney is?)

Well, no curse seems to have affected the field hockey team at Camden Caesar Rodney (Del.), which won its first 14 matches of the season before running smack into Wilmington Tower Hill (Del.) which won the last four state titles coming into 2004. The Hillers took a 2-1 result in a match played at the hockey-specific Rullo Stadium on the campus of the University of Delaware.

Head coach Debbie Windett has coached for 26 years in Delaware, and she believes she has never had a faster forward line.

"It's pretty special," Windett said. "We were hoping we might have had an advantage on the turf, but Tower Hill played great angles, and were taking away our passing lanes. Usually, we pretty much run at will, but Tower neutralized our speed."

The attacking presence of seniors Casey Howard and Rae Everson and juniors Jori Victory and Jaimie Brittingham may constitute the single fastest attack in the United States. They swarm the offensive end with frightening speed.

But Tower Hill was ready. Their skills and passing built a 2-0 lead before Howard responded in the 44th. The Hillers had, for the second time in three years, faltered early in the season before running off a series of excellent results that bode well for the team's 15th overall state title.

"It's taken a while to find our identity," said Tower Hill head coach Robin Adair. "But they're getting together; it's a good group of girls."

TURF BOWL HAS A HARD TIME

The 2004 Turf Bowl field hockey festival had an astounding 18 games to be played in three days at the University of Delaware's hockey-specific stadium.

But by the time a thunderous rain and hail storm brought 40-mph winds, closing Interstate 95 just south of the Newark, Del. campus, only six of the matches had been played. There were four postponed games, including a highly anticipated match between defending state champion Wilmington Tower Hill (Del.) and Wilmington St. Mark's (Del.), which boasts prize attacker Katelyn Falgowski.

"Four years, and we haven't had anything like this," said Turf Bowl director Willie Miranda.

But three more days of Turf Bowl action occurred the first week of November once some evening time slots were made available. And an Election Night crowd saw not a single radio in the stands tuned for word of early vote counts.

That's dedication, folks.

TOWER HILL MAKES GOOD IN RESCHEDULED MATCH

Wilmington Tower Hill (Md.) could not play its scheduled match with Wilmington St. Mark's under the lights, so playing the same day of a lunar eclipse had to do.

The Hillers got a pair of second-half goals from Leigh Giacco to take a 2-0 win heading into a confrontation with unbeaten Camden Caesar Rodney.

"We had opportunities in and around the circle, but they keep people deep," St. Mark's coach Bill Eichinger tells The Wilmington News-Journal. "They put on a lot of pressure on defense and they got a couple balls through (on offense). We played a good game; they just played a little better than us."

District of Columbia

VISITATION BREATHES RARIFIED AIR

Good athletes have come through Washington Georgetown Visitation (D.C.) for years, but rarely have the Cubs held a ranking as high as they did when they were handed the No. 2 slot in The Washington Post Top 10.

"Being ranked in the Top 10 does not happen overnight," Visitation head coach Karen Zarchin tells The Georgetown Visitation Wicket. "Ranking or no ranking, this team and our seniors especially have a lot to be proud of."

Losses to defending Virginia state champion Fairfax W.T. Woodson and ISL rival Bethesda Holton-Arms (Md.) have dropped Visitation from their high of the season, but were in at No. 8 the first weekend of November.

"I'm proud that our field hockey program was given the recognition we deserved," junior Casey Flynn tells The Wicket.

Maryland

MARYLAND FINALS ARE STRANGELY THEMATIC

It wasn't intentional, but when the Maryland Public Secondary Schools' Athletic Association moved its finals from a weekend quadrupleheader to two doubleheaders to accomodate the University of Maryland's NCAA field hockey bracket, each of the doubleheaders had a theme.

Call them "Hungry Monday" and "Rematch Tuesday."

It turned out that the Monday doubleheader matches each featured a team which had never won a state title playing against a team which had not won in at least three years. And, after both matches, the teams which had never won found themselves without title glory.

In the 4A title game, Edgewater South River (Md.) got an heroic performance from its penalty corner defense unit in edging Bethesda Walt Whitman (Md.) 1-0.

The quartet, consisting of posters Molly Gregoire and Heather Bresnahan, flyer Kelly Patterson, and trailer Hope Batista had an heroic evening playing in front of goalkeeper Irene Jorden. The Seahawks were outshot 16-2, but Gregoire's second-half rebound against the run of play was enough.

"They've been my defense the whole year," Jorden says. "And we stuck to it."

Mind you, none of The Four Seahawks of the Apocalypse are the loquacious, strong A-type personalities. That instead comes from the purple-clad goalkeeper with the checkered headband, Jorden. She came off her line on several occasions when Whitman changed its midfield tactics in the second term, carrying the ball with great skill. But the Vikings couldn't solve the South River defense in the final 16 yards.

In the 2A title match, Hereford (Md.) denied Glenelg (Md.) its first state title with a 2-0 win. The Bulls got second-half goals from Jessica Bulala and Becky Sebastian for their first outright state championship since 1979 -- they shared two titles previously after draws in 1998 and 2001.

But Sebastian knew, even a half-hour before the opening whistle, that her team would win.

How? She broke a field hockey ball during pre-game warmups.

"I broke the same kind of ball in the state semis and we won in overtime; I think we may have gotten a bad batch," said the center forward who generates corners with a Bunyanesque drive. "Whenever we break the ball, everyone comes and kisses it for good luck."

"After a couple of practices, they tend to fall apart," said Hereford head coach Tammy Mundie. "So we might have to send them back."

On the receiving end of the Hereford barrage was first-year Glenelg goalkeeper Caitlin O'Neill, who has had an outstanding year after learning shortly before the season that she would be in the pads. Her saves kept the Gladiators in the match as their attack did not have its best match.

"Ali Blum got me into playing goal; her plan was to play midfield this year instead of playing goal," O'Neill said. "Then, (head coach Ginger) Kincaid gave me the basics, so I didn't go to any camps or anything."

The next day's doubleheader, "Rematch Tuesday," did not turn out to be "Revenge Tuesday," since only one of the two 2003 results was reversed in 2004. There was, however, a theme: how a team came back from an unthinkable loss.

For Pocomoke City (Md.), that loss was the team's first loss to Crisfield (Md.) in 44 years, combined with two more defeats in a three-game swoon at the end of the regular season that had head coach Susan Pusey looking for answers.

"We were third in the Bayside playoffs, so our motivation was that we had to 'climb the ladder,'" Pusey said. "The only way to get better was to take one game at a time."

And, after winning the Bayside championship with a 1-0 win over Easton, the Warriors marched through the playoffs and waylaid their competition, including a 3-0 win over Poolesville (Md.) in the 1A final.

Pusey and the Warriors found the answers in their greatest asset: team speed. In the 1A final against Poolesville, the Warriors' fleet feet helped set up their three goals with daring and enterprising attacks. And even the team's penalty corners were speedy. Wingers sent to the post were open all evening long.

"They have great speed on the turf," said Poolesville coach Regina Grubb. "Nobody expected us to be where we were, so to come together as a team like that, I'm proud of them for that."

In the 3A title game, the team that had the unfathomable loss was Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.). The 12-time state champions had three quality losses to Baltimore Bryn Mawr (Md.), Alexandria St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (Va.) and Severna Park (Md.), the Barons' opponent for the championship. But the fourth loss, to Silver Spring Einstein (Md.), was the one that served as the teaching point for this Barons team.

"We weren't very consistent this season," said B-CC sophomore forward Margaret Mulholland, "but when playoff time came around, we wanted to finish off right and play to the last day we possibly could."

That would mean a rematch with Severna Park, which came into the state championship No. 3 in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10. The Falcons, coached by the legendary head coach Lil Shelton, might have been the best team in her three decades at the helm -- as well as the least traditional.

The Falcons' traditional wool kilts and cotton polo shirts, uniforms that were the hallmark of the program since the mid-1970s, were done away with in 2004. The players donned sleek gold jerseys and solid navy kilts, projecting an aura of slashing speed and frightening quickness that Severna Park exhibited in scoring the opener in the 15th minute. Hayley Rausch and her running mates on the front line ran a perfect jailbreak against the run of play and sent the ball into the cage.

The B-CC parents and supporters groaned. Would this be like 2003, where Severna Park played a near-perfect first half to steal a 3-0 advantage by halftime?

The Barons thought that might have been the case when Rausch deflected a cross into the cage as the second half was winding to a close on another breathtaking upfield rush. But the umpires conferred and correctly determined that Rausch's foot deflected the ball over the goal line and not her stick.

Aside from those two odd-man breaks, Severna Park's attack, which had scored a school-record 123 goals, sputtered. And that was due to Wood's tactical directive.

"Our strategy was to deny them the ball, to be on them close enough to not give them freedom to move," said B-CC head coach Amy Wood. "Everything goes through Abbi Horn, and she was never to receive the ball uncontested, and to be unavailable, whenever possible, for the first free-hit pass."

"We came out knowing this was going to be the hardest game of the season," said the Falcons' Horn. "This was a lot more of a mental challenge, knowing that this was going to be their best shot."

The Battlin' Barons dominated possession, shots, and corners, but were still down a goal, and down to the last three minutes of regulation before Shay Smith golfed a shot just over goalkeeper Dee Crovo's thigh to tie the match. Crovo was remarkably stout in the goal cage, making 14 saves, some of the "Get That Out Of Here" variety.

Oddly enough, Severna Park was able to earn its first corner of the match only about midway through the second 7-on-7 overtime period, but by then many of the Falcons' fleetest forwards were, by rule, out of the game because they were in the first 10-minute session.

The Barons earned a corner in the final 15 seconds of the second golden-goal overtime, and, with a single untimed corner play, got the game-winner from Mulholland to win the game and the championship trophy.

"I think we were more prepared this game," Mulholland said. "When we played them in Baltimore (Sept. 11 in a 4-1 loss at the Sally Nyborg Invitational), we weren't as well-prepared."

"It's hard to explain how they feel, because they have played so hard all season," Shelton said. "We had so many goals, and our defense has been excellent."

NELSON BECOMING A MAJOR FORCE FOR HOLTON-ARMS, UNITED STATES

A sophomore is already being tapped as perhaps being the next great American field hockey goalkeeper, perhaps in time for the 2012 Olympics should they be awarded to New York City.

Samantha Nelson, after playing twice for the U-16 national team, has made the switch back to grass beautifully. She had not given up a goal in four matches for Bethesda Holton-Arms (Md.) before playing Independent School League rival Alexandria St. Stephen's/St. Agnes (Va.).

The Panthers held a one-goal lead at the quarter-hour against the league standard-bearers before the Saints drew the scores level in the 25th minute. That's where the score remained through regulation and extra time.

"It's hard to lose when you have a goalie like Sammie, but they're a great team and they play solid hockey," junior Emily Tiernan told The Washington Post. "It's really intimidating because you don't know if you want to over-commit offensively and go for the 2-0 lead, or if you just want to hang back and risk the 1-1 tie, which unfortunately happened. It just didn't work out."

But Nelson was outstanding, making 14 saves on the afternoon.

ROLAND PARK SHOWING EARLY IAAM SIGNS

It's been some time since preseason turnout for Baltimore Roland Park (Md.) has been as low as it was in August 2004.

No matter. Not only did the Reds best Alexandria St. Stephen's/St. Agnes 1-0 at the Sally Nyborg Invitational, it also got by Towson Notre Dame Prep (Md.) 2-1 on a Brittany Kalkstein goal in the final second of regulation.

NORTHWOOD FINALLY GETTING ITS OWN IDENTITY

Ever since Silver Spring Northwood (Md.) closed its doors in 1985, it has become a holding facility for other schools during renovation periods.

And, most famously within the field hockey context, Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.) was able to keep its skein of consecutive state titles uninterrupted despite two seasons on the Silver Spring campus.

But Northwood is being pushed back into service in 2004, this time as part of what is being called the "Downcounty Consortium." Alongside area schools Silver Spring Montgomery Blair, Kensington Albert Einstein, Silver Spring John F. Kennedy, and Wheaton, Northwood is envisioned as evolving into a magnet school for bioscience, information technology, and engineering. As such, it is one of a handful of magnet schools in the nation that play field hockey.

The learning curve for the Gladiators is made even steeper in that the team plays only a junior varsity schedule for its first two years.

"It's a special challenge, them being a ninth-grade only," Duke Beattie, coordinator of athletics for Montgomery County, tells The Montgomery Gazette. "We're trying not only to carve them out a schedule, but also not to put them with opponents where they're going to be overmatched. Them going even against a JV with 10th-graders, that's a concern of ours."

STARTING TIMES CHANGED NEAR BALTIMORE

It almost makes too much sense, which is why there is some controversy about Howard County changing all of the varsity field hockey start times to 5 p.m. instead of the usual 3:30 p.m.

In essence, it reverses the time-honored ritual of having the varsity playing first instead of waiting for the junior varsity to finish.

"I like a relaxed warmup where we get things covered," says Ellicott City Mount Hebron coach Jeannette Ireland about the team's customary 45-minute warmup.

But Howard County athletic director Don Disney, according to The Columbia Flier, cited gender equity rules. Which ones, The Flier did not cite.

It does, however, allow parents unable to come to mid-afternoon matches to make them, even at the cost of making trips during the titanic rush hours found along the Baltimore Beltway.

The Flier reports that the policy is only in effect until October 1, when the shorter days necessitate the playing of varsity matches earlier.

Virginia

ORDER RESTORED TO THE VIRGINIA FIELD HOCKEY UNIVERSE

For a good part of the 80s and 90s, people wondered if the Virginia field hockey championship trophy would ever leave the borough of Virginia Beach.

That's because of the dominance of programs like Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox and Virginia Beach Princess Anne, who would come out onto the field of play and basically psych out their opponents by the end of pre-game warmups.

But the last couple of years has seen the Virginia High School League title go from the Beach to the central and northern reaches of the state. And it was not just the fact that other schools had won the championship, but they had done it thanks to some interloping talent.

In 2002, Midlothian James River won thanks to a transfer from the state of Delaware. A year later, the winning goal scored by Fairfax W.T. Woodson came off a transfer from New Jersey.

There had been every reason to think that might happen again because of the extraordinary play of Chesterfield L.C. Bird's German transfer, Anna Junk. But when Cox laid a 5-0 "no" to that plan, and Princess Anne was able to best Stafford, something extraordinary took place.

That would be another "internecine" championship game -- the fourth time that the Cavaliers and Falcons were to meet in the 2004 season.

And as it happened, Princess Anne won their third championship in five seasons with a 1-0 win over Cox. The game-winner came in the 33rd minute, as sophomore Katie Price softly knocked in a deflected long hit.

�I really thought they were going to call it back,� Price tells The Virginian-Pilot. �It hit somebody�s foot and I thought it was a Cox player. But I wasn�t sure. So when the ball just came through everybody I just hit it in.�

Cox had a chance in the final minutes to draw level when Princess Anne's Jessie Mantel was handed a five-minute yellow card suspension, but could not generate much with the advantage.

The Princess Anne win denied the Falcons their 14th state championship, which would have tied them with Severna Park (Md.), Wilmington Tower Hill (Md.), and Moorestown (N.J.) for the most championships in Federation history.

"TIPPING POINT" GAMES VARY IN DRAMA

As four Virginia High School League regions whittled down from 16 to eight teams, there were eight very intense matches whose importance in setting the field for the VHSL State Tournament were of the utmost importance.

Hence, the name "tipping point." Win and you're in, with at least two more guaranteed games. Lose, and you go home.

In the Northwest Region, Stafford (Va.), who missed the state tournament in 2003, redeemed itself by beating town rival Stafford Colonial Forge 4-1. But it wasn't easy; Colonial Forge, which has made great strides since the school opened in 1998, got a goal at 21 seconds to take an early lead.

It didn't last for long; Stafford used four different goal-scorers to prevail.

"I'm ecstatic," head coach Robin Woodie tells The Free Lance-Star. "I'm so happy that we're going back. I believe we can be formidable and competitive."

North Stafford (Va.), the Indians' usual dance partner in the last decade or so when it comes to Northwest excellence, was able to beat Manassas Osbourn Park (Va.) 3-0. The Wolverines, which outshot Osbourn Park 19-2, got a pair of goals from Kristen Bradford.

In the Central region, Midlothian James River (Va.) may have graduated the amazing Shannon Taylor, but was able to manage just enough to beat Richmond Maggie Walker (Va.) 1-0 on an Ally Weir tap-in.

The Rapids went through along with Chesterfield L.C. Bird (Va.), which had a goalfest of a match with Chester Thomas Dale (Va.). But Anna Junk's hat trick was the difference in a 5-3 win.

Junk is from Germany, and her rocket shots -- reminiscent of guest players like Andschana Mendes (Glen Gardner Voorhees, N.J.) and Elena Elster (Lawrenceville School, N.J.) are almost unstoppable on grass fields. This was especially true on the bumpy football stadium in which the Central Regional tournament was played.

"Everyone has learned a lot from her," Bird senior Erica Lawrence tells The Petersburg Progress-Index. "From the beginning of the season when people were kind of unsure what she would do, we've found a kind of flow to our game."

The Southeast showed the continued power and mystique of the Beach District, which has not failed to send two teams to the state tournaemnt through the regionals in the last 24 years. Virginia Beach Princess Anne (Va.) and Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox (Va.) were able to best a pair of teams which had racked up impressive won-loss records.

Gloucester (Va.) had been 17-0-1 entering their match against 14-7 Cox, but were quickly subsumed in a 5-0 drubbing.

"We didn't want to play scared, but we knew this had to be a defensive game for us," head coach Angie Wall tells The Hampton Roads Daily Press. "Our goal was to try to shut their forwards down. They're so quick."

Princess Anne took down Lakeland (which had a 16-1-1 record entering the game) by a 3-0 count, but sees these "tipping point" matches a little differently from everyone else.

�We�ve been trying to step it up each game, and losing the final wouldn�t be a step in the right direction,� Princess Anne forward Jessie Mantel tells The Virginian-Pilot. �We don�t want that.�

In the Northern Region, Fairfax W.T. Woodson (Va.) returned to defend its state championship with a 2-1 win over Annandale (Va.). The Cavaliers had gotten goals in the first 10 minutes from Michaela Seigo and Lizl Gericke, but came up empty the rest of the way.

"When you can see the finish line, and it isn't getting any closer, you could see that they were panicking a little bit," says Woodson head coach Andy Muir. "But we had a lot of players who have experience, and they are confident. They know it takes a team effort."

The other "tipping point" match in the North was redemption for Alexandria Thomas Jefferson (Va.), which had lost in overtime to Woodson in 2003 in the regional semifinal. But the game-changing and field-switching strikes from sophomore Allie Heon helped in a 3-0 win over Chantilly (Va.).

"It's sweet, especially with this group," says Jefferson head coach Teri Davis. "We had gotten so close last year (to the state tournament)."

"The coaches emphasize how important a good free hit is," says Heon, who had the opener in the first half. "On the corner, I just wanted to stop the ball first, because I missed the first one I had. I felt, when I hit it, that it was going in."

Julianna Litts, who was left surprisingly unmarked at times in the offensive third of the field, had a pair of second-half goals to her credit.

OAKTON TAKES INITIATIVE IN TOUGH CONCORDE DISTRICT RACE

It's like a Hollywood movie: team trails in the second half against an undefeated team, coach calls timeout, coach pulls a page from The Vince Lombardi Book of Great Motivational Phrases, and sends the team back onto the field and wins the game.

But Oakton (Va.) was able to beat then-undefeated Alexandria Thomas Jefferson (Va.) in a mid-October clash within the Concorde District, scoring a pair of goals less than four minutes after an opposing timeout.

"I don't often do a big speech," said Oakton head coach Marsha Ehrsam. "We were just making corrections in individual players."

Stewi Downer's field goal in the 43rd was followed by a Mandy Conlon penalty stroke in the 45th as the Cougars took a 2-1 win. It was just the first loss in 13 matches for the Colonials, one of less than a half-dozen magnet schools in the United States which has a varsity field hockey team.

TJ has not had standout goalkeeper Kendall Stone in the pads this year. Instead, head coach Teri Davis has had her on the attack line, whilst junior Rachel Miller has been patrolling the D in 2004.

"I had heard that," Ehrsam said. "Teri Davis always prepares her team well, and she was a goalkeeper herself, so their goalkeeping is very good.

ROAD TO REPEAT IS ROUGH FOR W.T. WOODSON

Ever since Fairfax W.T. Woodson (Va.) played a final for the ages in the 2003 Class AAA final, all eyes have turned to the Northern Virginia school for any signs of weakness.

A slight chink in the armor might have been detected when Woodson lost to then-nationally ranked East Chapel Hill (N.C.) in a penalty-stroke shootout at the Sun Devil Invitational in Virginia Beach. A second loss, to Centreville (Va.), might have cast doubt on the team.

But the Cavaliers have done reasonably well, thank you very much. The team came into an early October showdown with Vienna James Madison (Va.) with a 9-2 record, including a 13-0 rout of Reston South Lakes (Va.).

Vienna Madison (Va.), and goalkeeper Sammie Ashwell, were not about to let that happen. Ashwell was a tower of strength through 60 minutes of regulation and a half-hour of overtime as the teams played a goalless draw.

"She really played a great region tournament last year, and she's come even further this year," Madison head coach Gideon Sanders tells The Washington Post. "A lot of times last night you could hear the oohs and ahs from the fans when she made a save, but I could see from the sidelines that she was tracking the ball all the way."

PAIGE HARTMAN CAN'T ESCAPE HOCKEY NOTORIETY

It's a universal story: the younger sister trying to live up to the athletic prowess of an older sibling.

But when it transfers to a new school when your old school district splits up, it should be easier to establish your own identity, should it?

Not for Paige Hartman, whose older sister Kelly helped lead North Stafford (Va.) to the state tournament her senior year. When Paige started taking classes at Stafford Colonial Forge (Va.), the name was her own reputation.

"When I was at North Stafford, I was known as Kelly's or Gregory's little sister and I couldn't take it anymore," Hartman tells The Free Lance-Star. "Then a lot of teachers came here from North Stafford and it was, 'Oh, you're Kelly's little sister,' and I was like 'Oh, no.'"

Hartman is expected to help the Eagles to district, if not even regional, honors in 2004.

"I want to go to the state tournament so bad," says Hartman, an attacking midfielder. "We know we have a talented team. We just need to make sure we don't let anything get to us like the background history."

It's a history that includes falling short at the 2004 regional tournament, losing to qualifer Culpeper in a second-round "tipping point" match.

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