Archive for August, 2010
Aug. 31, 2010 — A voice from the past
Game of the Day
Dearborn Edsel Ford (Mich.) at Ann Arbor Pioneer (Mich.), 6 p.m.
Pioneer will take the field for the first time since head coach Jane Nixon’s serious motor scooter accident last November. Nixon also won the NFHCA National Coach of the Year award for last year’s state championship team.
Heard this afternoon that Brian “Maynard” Welsh died.
Welsh was the head boys’ soccer coach at Princeton Junction West Windsor-Plainsboro (N.J.) for many years. Some 20 years ago, writing a story on a boys’ soccer game in the days when the National Federation allowed games to be played in four 20-minute quarters, his Pirates played some very stylish soccer, using good speed, but they fell short in this one contest.
After the game, he gave me a quote that has shaped the way I see sports. He said, “If you don’t finish, you don’t win. At best, you tie.”
Since then, whenever I have seen any kind of ball sport — field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, water polo, Gaelic games, etc. — that quote has resonated in my mind. I haven’t felt the need to repeat Maynard’s quote, but it has shaped my observation of whatever sport I’m watching.
Many questions go through my mind during a game, and many of them coming from the quote. What is a defense doing to stop an opposition offense? What innovations have an offense made in order to render them indefensible? Is a team’s failure to execute the reason for a loss, or was it something the other defense was actively doing?
These insights have served me well over the years, and I can point to a couple of instances as to how. One year, there was a lacrosse team that had run through its last month of the season and the first two rounds of the playoffs looking unbeatable. Their three big guns had transcended the 200 career-point mark in the same game in the semifinal round of the postseason, but they were having tremendous difficulty in the championship final because the opposing cover point played an absolutely brilliant contest and disrupted the linchpin of the other team’s offense.
Another year, there was a college team which had transcended the sport for six years, innovating on numerous levels to stay ahead of the competition. That is, until this past May, when Northwestern found itself unable to finish in the second half of a loss to Maryland in the NCAA Division I final. The defense of Karissa Taylor, Iliana Sanza, and Brittany Poist held Katrina Dowd to a single assist on the night.
Through all of these years, and all of these sports, Welsh’s words have stayed with me.
Godspeed, Maynard.
Aug. 30, 2010 — Games of the Day
Game of the Day
Grosse Pointe South (Mich.) at Grosse Pointe North (Mich.), 7 p.m.
The Grosse Pointe derby is unusually early this season. They played a goalless draw one year ago, and this year’s match should be on a knife-edge when it comes to closeness.
After a long weekend chasing game schedules and one very annoying cricket, here is our list of Games of the Day for the 2010 season. This year, a number of schools have backed out their schedules so that a number of very important games are being played before Labor Day.
As in previous years, we’re limiting these listing ourselves to one match a day, even through there are a few days where there are multiple good games. And like in lacrosse season, we reserve the right to call an audible and change the daily listing on the blog if a rescheduling or a tournament match demands it. One big highlight of the 2010 season is an incredibly tough week that is going to be endured by Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.). In the space of eight days, the Blue Knights take on Voorhees Eastern (N.J.), Mountain Top Crestwood (Pa.), Louisville Sacred Heart (Ky.), and Lehman Lake-Lehman (Pa.).
NOTE: All times local.
8-30: Grosse Pointe South (Mich.) at Grosse Pointe North (Mich.), 7 p.m.
8-31: Dearborn Edsel Ford (Mich.) at Ann Arbor Pioneer (Mich.), 6 p.m.
9-1: Hampton Winnacunnet (N.H.) at Derry Pinkerton Academy (N.H.), 4:15 p.m.
9-2: Ann Arbor Pioneer (Mich.) at Novi (Mich.), 4:30 p.m
9-3: St. Louis Mary Institute-Country Day School (Mo.) vs. Winnetka New Trier (Ill.) at Anheuser-Busch Sports Center, 1 p.m.
9-4: Louisville (Ky.) Collegiate vs. St. Louis John Burroughs (Mo.) at Anheuser-Busch Sports Center, 9 a.m.
9-5: St. Louis St. Joseph’s Academy (Mo.) vs. Louisville Sacred Heart (Ky.) at Anheuser-Busch Sports Center, 6 p.m.
9-6: Fort Worth Trinity Valley (Tex.) vs. St. Louis John Burroughs (Mo.) at Anheuser-Busch Sports Center, 8 a.m.
9-7: Fredericksburg Stafford (Va.) at Stafford North Stafford (Va.), 4:30 p.m.
9-8: Durham Jordan (N.C.) at East Chapel Hill (N.C.), 5:30 p.m.
9-9: Skowhegan (Maine) vs. Messalonskee (Maine) at Colby College, 5:30 p.m.
9-10: Martinsville Pingry School (N.J.) at Flemington Hunterdon Central (N.J.), 4 p.m.
9-11: Mount Joy Donegal (Pa.) at Selinsgrove (Pa.), noon
9-13: East Greenwich Rocky Hill School (R.I.) at Tiverton (R.I.), 4 p.m.
9-14: Fort Worth Country Day (Tex.) at Fort Worth All Saints (Tex.), 6:30 p.m.
9-15: East Chapel Hill (N.C.) at Chapel Hill (N.C.), 4:45 p.m.
9-16: Shrub Oak Lakeland (N.Y.) at Putnam Valley (N.Y.), 4:30 p.m.
9-17: Florence (N.J.) Memorial at Burlington (N.J.) City, 3:45 p.m.
9-18: Emmaus (Pa.) at Millersville Penn Manor (Pa.), 11 a.m.
9-20: Cleveland Heights (Ohio) at Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown (Ohio), 4:30 p.m.
9-21: Englewood Kent Denver (Colo.) at Greenwood Village Cherry Creek (Colo.), 5 p.m.
9-22: Ocean City (N.J.) at Absegami (N.J.), 4 p.m.
9-23: Fallbrook (Calif.) Union at San Diego Torrey Pines (Calif.), 3:15 p.m.
9-24: Newtown Council Rock North (Pa.) at Holland Council Rock South (Pa.), 3:30 p.m.
9-25: Lehighton (Pa.), Reading Exeter (Pa.), and Mechanicsburg Cumberland Valley (Pa.) at Hummelstown Lower Dauphin (Pa.), 3:15 p.m.
9-27: Yorktown Grafton (Va.) at Yorktown Tabb (Va.), 7 p.m.
9-28: Charlotte (N.C.) Latin at Charlotte (N.C.) Country Day School, 4:30 p.m.
9-29: Lake Forest (Ill.) at Oak Park River Forest (Ill.), 5:30 p.m.
9-30: Pittsfield Maine Central Institute (Maine) at Thorndike Mount View (Maine), 7:30 p.m.
10-1: Suffolk Lakeland (Va.) at Virginia Beach Ocean Lakes (Va.), 4 p.m.
10-2: Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) at Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.), 7 p.m.
10-3: Acton-Boxborough (Mass.) at Hingham Notre Dame (Mass.), 5 p.m.
10-4: Darien (Conn.) at Mamaroneck (N.Y.), 4 p.m.
10-5: Mountain Top Crestwood (Pa.) at Kingston Wyoming Seminary (Pa.), 4:15 p.m.
10-6: Lawrenceville (N.J.) at Princeton (N.J.) Day School, 4:15 p.m.
10-7: Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox (Va.) at Virginia Beach Princess Anne (Va.), 3:45 p.m.
10-8: Palmyra (Pa.) at Hershey (Pa.), 3:30 p.m.
10-9: Oley (Pa.) Valley at Voorhees Eastern (N.J.), 6 p.m.
10-11: Emmaus (Pa.) at Pennsburg Upper Perkiomen (Pa.), 7:30 p.m.
10-12: Buckingham Central Bucks East (Pa.) at Doylestown Central Bucks West, 7 p.m.
10-13: Ann Arbor Huron (Mich.) at Ann Arbor Pioneer (Mich.), 7 p.m.
10-14: Alexandria St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes (Va.) at Fairfax W.T. Woodson (Va.), 4:15 p.m.
10-15: Camden Caesar Rodney (Del.) at Georgetown Sussex Tech (Del.), 4 p.m.
10-16: Lehighton (Pa.) at Selinsgrove (Pa.), noon
10-17: Walpole (Mass.) vs. Worcester Notre Dame Academy (Mass.) at Worcester State College, 6 p.m.
10-18: Darien (Conn.) at Stamford (Conn.), 6:30 p.m.
10-19: Litchfield Wamogo at Washington Shepaug Valley (Conn.), 3:45 p.m.
10-20: Kent (Conn.) School at Lakeville Hotchkiss School (Conn.), 2:30 p.m.
10-21: Hatfield Smith Academy (Mass.) at South Deerfield Frontier Regional (Mass.), 7 p.m.
10-22: Norwalk Brien McMahon (Conn.) at Norwalk (Conn.), 7:30 p.m.
10-23: Moorestown (N.J.) at Voorhees Eastern (N.J.), 10 a.m.
10-25: Garden City (N.Y.) at Manhasset (N.Y.), 6:15 p.m.
10-26: Wilton (Conn.) at Danbury (Conn.), 6 p.m.
10-27: Bridgewater-Raritan (N.J.) at Glen Gardner Voorhees (N.J.), 3:45 p.m.
10-28: Hammonton St. Joseph’s (N.J.) at Tabernacle Seneca (N.J.), 4 p.m.
10-29: Wilmington Tower HIll (Del.) at Middletown St. Andrew’s (Del.), 3:45 p.m.
10-30: North Caldwell West Essex (N.J.) at Medford Lakes Shawnee (N.J.), noon
Aug. 29, 2010 — A wistful opener to the FIH Women’s World Cup
Today, three games were played to open Pool B at the FIH World Cup in Rosario, Argentina. The results and participants make one wonder if the selection process used for qualification for this tournament was in any way fair.
In one game, Spain took on England, with the Three Lions winning 3-2. These were two teams that the United States has defeated in the last few weeks on their home turf. In another match, Korea (which beat the United States in April to qualify) defeated a Chinese team which lost its fifth straight match.
Isn’t there something to be said for being “on form” for such a major international competition?
Aug. 28, 2010 — A crux of games in North Philadelphia
This weekend, Geasey Field on the campus of Temple University is going to see an awful lot of talent. It’s not only the Temple Invitational, but two of the finest teams in America are going to be playing on the same turf. Virginia is meeting up with St. Joseph’s University this morning before a game featuring Temple and Bucknell.
Tomorrow, the second-ranked University of Maryland will take on Villanova, then Bucknell takes on St. Joseph’s, followed by a showdown between Temple and Fairfield.
If you want to see some good field hockey this weekend, it’s a good opportunity. The weather should be cooperative.
Aug. 27, 2010 — Beginning with a bang
Today and tomorrow, the 18th Annual Sun Devil Invitational will take place at the National Training Center in Virginia Beach. It’s the first of a number of tournaments that will shape the scholastic season.
Yesterday, the NTC turf got the turf warmed up, as 2005 VHSL champion Fredericksburg Stafford (Va.), 2009 runners-up Stafford Mountain View (Va.), and 2006-09 champs Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox (Va.) took to the field.
Cox, the No. 1 team in the TopOfTheCircle.com Top 10 last year, surrendered a goal in each half to Stafford in their afternoon tilt. It was the first loss since the 2008 season for Cox, which graduated an immensely talented senior class.
As good as the Sun Devil Invitational is, the most interesting series of tournaments will occur in September, when a number of really good four-team tournaments will be occurring in several locations.
Two weeks from now, a very interesting one sees Glenelg (Md.), Baltimore Bryn Mawr (Md.), and Gaithersburg Quince Orchard (Md.) paying a visit to Edgewater South River (Md.). Two weeks later, Lehighton (Pa.) and Hummelstown Lower Dauphin (Pa.) will contest a game which will feature last year’s state champions in what will be the closest thing to a PIAA Tournament of Champions.
I’m getting there early.
Aug. 26, 2010 — Saved, but for how long?
A number of middle-school sports programs have been threatened with budget cuts, and concerned parents have been getting themselves active.
One such group managed to get the middle-school teams in the Pine Bush School District about an hour from New York City, according to this article.
There are similar stories of parents going into communities, hats in hand, hitting up local businesses, running car washes, and holding bake sales to get middle-school teams funded.
But you look at the amounts of the donations, and they are a pittance compared to some of the other costs of running a school district.
Something’s not right here, don’t you think?
Aug. 25, 2010 — A new era for collegiate club teams
While the 300 or so NCAA-sanctioned women’s field hockey programs in the United States compete for three national championships, there are a bunch of ragtag groups of players who often work just as hard as their varsity compatriots, but with little notoriety.
The club teams in the National Field Hockey League, the Western Collegiate Field Hockey Conference, the New York State Club Field Hockey League, and other like-minded organizations haven’t had a single unified national championship — that is, until now.
The National Field Hockey Coaches’ Association will be holding the inaugural Intercollegiate Associate National Championship tournament from December 3-5 at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The eight-team championship will be filed by college club teams from various leagues around the country, and teams will receive bids from a committee to participate.
It’s a needed void that the NFHCA is looking to fill, and that’s a good thing.
Aug. 24, 2010 — NCAA Division III Preview: Rise and recovery
THE FEARLESS 5IVE
Bowdoin
Messiah
Salisbury
Tufts
Ursinus
Like its women’s lacrosse counterpart in the spring, last year’s Salisbury field hockey national championship was not the easiest. The Gulls had to win three razor-thin one-goal matches to win the Division III championship, and will have to replace leading scorers Lauren Correll and Beverly Beladino.
Messiah is going to be Salisbury’s main competition for NCAA honors this season. Julie Barton, the transfer from Louisville, will make the team go this season. She is the reigning Division III Player of the year.
Another team with Division I-caliber talent on its roster is Ursinus. Alyssa Thren and Megan Yoder both return for the Bears, and they were the two leading goals-scorers from last year’s squad.
Tufts is likely to be the biggest New England contender for NCAA honors. The Jumbos return leading scorer Tamara Brown (21 goals) and goalkeeper Marianna Zak.
But if Tufts stumbles in NESCAC play, watch for Bowdoin to return to the championship form it exhibited a few years ago. The Polar Bears did not have a single player hit double digits in goals, but leading scorer Ella Curren will be looking to redeem herself and the balance of the team.
Aug. 23, 2010 — NCAA Division II Preview: Bloomsburg owning the division?
THE FEARLESS 5IVE
Adelphi
Bloomsburg
Shippensburg
Stonehill
UMass-Lowell
What isn’t new about Division II this year is that Bloomsburg is the heavy favorite to win the national championship game when it is contested this December in Louisville, Ky. What is new is the face on the sidelines in the coaches’ box. Jan Hutchinson has departed the stage after her Hall of Fame career, and Nicole (Hartranft) Rhodes, a Bloomsburg graduate who has national championship experience, will lead the Huskies.
The team’s leading scorer from a year ago, junior Amanda Riley, returns. Aside from that, there’s very little in the starting lineup who returns except for backs Amanda Deloy and Betsy Renn. It will be interesting to see how the lineup evolves over the season.
If the Huskies stumble, look for UMass-Lowell to regain the championship form of the 2000s. The River Hawks’ two leading scorers, Sammy Macy and Katie Enaire, return for head coach Shannon Hlebichuk. Goalie Amy Carbon returns as well.
Another contender for Division II honors is Stonehill, which went 17-5 a year ago. Forward Kathryn Nelson needs to fill the net in order for the Skyhawks to succeed. Courtney Osler returns for her senior season in the goal cage.
After a number of lean years, Shippensburg has advanced in postseason play the last two seasons — something Ship had not done in the previous half-century. The Raiders have retained the services of leading scorer Kristina Taylor, but the strength of this team is in its backline. Kristen Brooks, Emily Fulton, and Ashley Taylor all return and they will be the backbone of this Ship.
One building contender is Adelphi, which revived its team program two years ago after a 25-year absence. Head coach Gloria O’Connor is one of the most passionate and knowledge-acquisitive people in the United States. The Panthers are coming off a European tour and could nick a win or two from unexpected sources. If you get a chance to watch an Adelphi game, go and see them.
Aug. 22, 2010 — NCAA Division I Preview: The ACC owning the game
THE FEARLESS 5IVE
Maryland
North Carolina
Princeton
Virginia
Wake Forest
With all apologies to people writing internet memes praising the toughness of actor Chuck Norris, the current talent, coaching, and excellence of the Athletic Coast Conference makes you wonder if the six schools in the conference are playing a game that’s not called “hockey,” but a game called “ACC.”
The conference is so strong, its worst team is likely to rank higher than 80 to 85 percent of the rest of NCAA Division I. Current national teamers abound through the rosters of the league, and the competition for position for the championship is often so keen that you’re likely to see something happen in an ACC match that you don’t see anywhere else.
Such was the case in the last match played between two ACC teams in the 2009 season — which just happened to be the NCAA final. In the game, North Carolina won the match in the final 11 seconds of play after absorbing pressure throughout. The Tar Heels got the necessary performances on defense from Olympian Katelyn Falgowski and goalkeeper Jackie Kintzer, but there was, and is, tremendous offensive firepower throughout the UNC lineup. Teryn Brill, Kelsey Kolojejchick, and freshman Marta Malmberg are absolute diamond-edged finishers, and much will be expected from them.
UNC’s main rival is likely to be, once again, Maryland. The Terrapins graduated a number of important players in its lineup, but it still will have U.S. national teamer Katie O’Donnell. But whereas O’Donnell would sometimes have to make offensive solo forays, she has a worthy running mate in 2010 in freshman Jill Witmer, a player with stealthy speed and finishing ability on the run.
Maryland’s big question mark is in the goal cage with the graduation of Alicia Grater. Redshirt junior Melissa Vassalotti has had plenty of training and reps the last several years, starting with her high school career at Jenkintown St. Basil Academy (Pa.), where she had nearly 700 recorded saves. The last three years, she has faced the best shots of her teammates in practice.
But a pair of first-year Terps will make things interesting. Natalie Hunter comes from the powerhouse program at Ocean City (N.J.), where she had to face the best shots of her teammates (including 50-goal scorer Colleen Slaughter) in practice. The same goes for Greenwich (Conn.) product Brooke Cabrera, who won a pair of state championships. Whoever starts in goal for Maryland will certainly have earned the position.
Another rival for UNC’s crown will be Virginia. The Hoos are rallying around stick wizard Paige Selenski (27 goals), and she will have a number of targets to use. The chief target will be her high-school teammate, Tara Puffenberger (ten goals). However, there will have to be players showing in the circle for Virginia to be successful. Aside from Puffenberger and Selenski, the leading returning scorer from last year, Michelle Vittese, had just six goals. It is expected that she and her sister Carissa, an incoming freshman, will make a big impact on the attack end along with senior Kaitlyn Hiltz.
Virginia’s defense, led by Rachel Jennings, Shelly Edmonds, and goalie Kim Kastuk, may be the equal of the Maryland and North Carolina attacks.
Also contending for ACC honors is Wake Forest, which lost to North Carolina in the NCAA quarterfinals in 2009, but welcomes a freshman class including Taylor Rhea, who scored 124 goals as a high school player. The Deacons will also have two interesting choices in the goal cage. One, Kaitlyn Ruhf, won the job as a freshman a year ago. However, Bronwen Gainsford is a transfer from the disbanded Division II program at Catawba.
The one NCAA field hockey team that could upset the ACC apple cart, however, is Princeton. Attacking midfielder Katie Reinprecht, attackers Kat Sharkey and Alyssa Pyros, and incoming freshman Julia Reinprecht form a core of players with the talent to keep up with the ACC schools. The Tiger defense of Erin Jennings and Alexandra Douwes will have to be extremely strong in front of goalie Jennifer King.
ELSEWHERE IN DIVISION I: The University of Connecticut is going as far as its young legs can carry them. Juniors Melissa Gonzalez, Kim Krzyk, and Rayell Hiestand will join a talented freshman class including Maria Ellen Bolles and could be the team to knock off Syracuse for Big East honors.
Michigan State, despite graduating one of its finest players in program history in Floor Rijpma, will have plenty of offensive fire power in Janine Steinmetz and Chantae Miller. If they can bring along the rest of their teammates, including several highly decorated younger players, the Spartans might be unbeatable in the Big Ten.
Drexel was the late-blooming story of last season, as the Dragons played their way into the national Top 10. The team returns its three leading goal scorers in Christina Mastropaolo (29 g0als), Susan Ciufo (21) and Jen Cairone (eight). This might be the team nobody wants to face in a single-elimination situation.
DARK HORSE: It’s likely that Boston College will not see the weekend of the ACC Tournament, given the difficulty of the league as well as the necessity to have to win two games to get to the final if you don’t get one of the top two seeds. However, with an extra few days of rest and a lucky tournament draw, the Eagles could parlay it into a deep run into the tournament. Emily Kozniuk of the Canadian women’s national team is going to be a key player, along with junior Catherine O’Brien and attacking midfielder Janna Anctil. If Kristine Stigas or Nicole Barry have a hot stretch in the goal cage, watch out.
