Scholastic Notes

New England region

Rhode Island

IN STATE FINALS, SEEDINGS HOLD FORM -- SORT OF

Shakespeare once wrote, "Uneasy is the head that holds the crown."

The top seeds in the Rhode Island finals -- Wheeler in Division I and Tiverton in Division II -- exhibited the full range of possibilities in how hard it is to defend that top seed.

Wheeler, who saw the 1999 Division I title slip away in a four-overtime marathon against The Lincoln School, was throroughly outplayed by North Kingstown, but still came away with a 1-0 win.

The game-winner, a Lily Gillett put-away in the 20th minute, came against the run of play. For all but that moment, North Kingstown dominated. The Skippers put up 12 shots off 19 penalty corners, but Wheeler goalkeeper Lauryn Balukjian was extremely stout.

"This is the most incredible feeling I've ever had as a coach," Wheeler head coach Jean Carlson told The Providence Journal. "More importantly, I'm so thrilled for the kids, especially the seniors."

In the Division II game, it was Tiverton doing the outplaying. The Tigers, in beating Rocky Hill 4-0, collected their fifth straight state championship.

Tiverton, one year after beating Rocky Hill 2-1 in three overtime periods, came out of the opening huddle with determination. The Tigers earned four penalty corners before Rocky Hill secured possession in its attacking half of the field.

It was only a matter of time: Bethanie Raposa was left at the stroke line for the opener in the 20th minute of play.

"Even though we didn't score much in the first half (one goal), we controlled the ball," Tiverton head coach Ken Dias told The Journal. "It was hard to get things going, but it was only a matter of time."

Raposa had a pair of goals in the second half, and Kristen Pimental wound up with a goal and three assists.

Massachusetts

PORKERS HAVE STREAK STOPPED

There are some hallowed streaks in sport.

In baseball, it is 56 -- Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak. In basketball, it is 33 -- the Los Angeles Lakers' winning streak.

In scholastic field hockey, the hallowed streak is the 106-game winning streak by Oklahoma City Casady (Okla.) from 1956 to 1969. That serves as the high-water mark for both the longest unbeaten streak and the longest winning streak in the National Federation record book.

But a different streak -- one which is somewhat longer than the Casady streak -- ended in 2000.

You see, Walpole (Mass.), which has dominated New England field hockey for the past decade, had put up a 181-game streak of games won in regulation. That is, until the Porkers went up against Somerset in the Division I South championship game.

In that game, the Blue Raiders managed a 2-1 win against a team that had not only won its last 67 games and 181 of its last 183.

"We gave them both goals, and didn't do anything well today like we have in the past," head coach Penny Calf told The Boston Globe. "When we play fundamental field hockey, we're as good as anybody, and today, we didn't. Each girl wanted to be the hero and I told them all year, 'You can never play perfect field hockey.' "

One person who has been pretty close to perfect all season is Walpole goalkeeper Christine Buckley. The senior had managed 66 shutouts over her scholastic career, setting a new National Federation record. However, in the game's 22nd minute, Buckley covered the ball and yielded a stroke.

Somerset's Kyla Marchand made no mistake and scored the go-ahead goal. It was the first time in Walpole's 22 games that it had trailed.

To the Blue Raiders' credit, they were able to defend that lead for the balance of regulation.

Despite Walpole's greatness in recent years, it should be no surprise that Somerset broke the streak. The school produced the likes of former Olympians Sue Marcellus (from the boycott team of 1980) and Pam Bustin (Atlanta 1996), as well as Nicole Castonguay, the UConn standout.

Indeed, while Somerset has been going deep into its season, Castonguay has been helping out the coaching staff after her Bridgewater (Mass.) State team finished its campaign. And she has seen a team with a tough constitution.

"I think they all play with such a heart in the game," Castonguay told The Providence Journal. "And the fitness, which [head coach] Jen [Dopart] has worked on, is an important factor. When the other team's dying out, they're going to pull through."

HATS OFF

Goals have been coming in bunches in eastern Massachusetts early in the season. Katie Dupont had a natural had trick in Reading (Mass.)'s 3-0 shutout of Melrose (Mass.). Jylian Dattoli had three goals for Danvers in a 6-0 trouncing of nearby Arlington, while Lauren Izzicupo had the hat trick in Stoneham's 4-0 defeat of Burlington.

Maine

TRIAGE WARD

Augusta Cony (Maine) head coach Carolyn Neighoff has suffered through much of the first weeks of the season.

Her team's injury list is mighty long, but not because of the rash of stick injuries that have befallen other teams.

An unusual number of pulled muscles has contributed to the loss of more than a half-dozen players on varsity and junior varsity.

"I've got a lot of injured kids," Neighoff tells The Kennebec Journal. "It's been awful. We're stretching before and after every activity."

Vermont

REMATCH TURNS OUT TO BE A LITTLE LESS THAN EXPECTED

Middlebury (Vt.) had plenty of hopes going into a September date with Hartford. Despite losing a number of seniors, Middlebury expected to exact revenge for last year's loss in the state final.

That expectation lasted only 17 seconds.

That's all the time it took for Kylie Ammel to put in the game-winner as Hartford bested Middlebury 3-0.