A back-and-forth first half. A defensive stalemate in the second. It all led up to a 7-on-7 overtime with St. Anne’s-Belfield and Cape Henry Collegiate in the VISAA Division 2 field hockey quarterfinals. And as so many teams have seen this year, when the Saints get open space, they make hey with it. STAB looked like it needed just one goal in OT to move on to the final, it got two instead. That last one proved to be the difference maker as the Dolphins got a goal in the final seconds of play, but couldn’t make up for the damage the Saints did in such a short time span to pave the way for a 4-3 win.
“It was just so intense, it was just finally nice to get goals in the back in overtime,” said STAB sophomore Annie Cory. “We lost in the first round of state’s last year so this is big for us. It’s so exciting and I just love everything about this team. We said it at the beginning, that we wanted to get past the first round. Everyone has worked so hard to get here. We’re just so happy to be continuing our season.”
The real drama for the Saints began towards the end of the second half as Cape Henry applied continuious pressure offense, particularly as time wound down. The Dolphins had more than enough chances, odd-man rushes, wide open shots. Those of which didn’t hit the wrong side of cage wound up on Schoeb’s foot or pads. The STAB goalkeeper, this her first year at the position, stood on her head to get her team to overtime.
“Well it was super intense so I just had to maintain focus,” Schoeb said. “I knew in the second half that we were definitely going to overtime. We weren’t getting the shots off that we did in the first half, but still, we were playing well.”
When this STAB team — known for it’s breakaway speed and conditioning thanks in large part to the bevy of gifted lacrosse players on the roster — took the field in overtime in the 10 minute 7-on-7 OT, the writing was on the wall. Cory took over midway through the period, missing just barely on a pair of chances before cranking home the coveted go ahead goal with 2:41 to play.
“It was buggin me all day that I hadn’t had any real opportunities,” Cory said. “But when you put just seven players on the field it really spreads everyone out. I was able to work better with that. I was just so lucky the shot went in because I thought it was going wide at first, but it hit the back.”
Just 90 seconds later, Sadie Bryant bull-rushed her way through the defense, very much in a similar play she made just moments before Cory’s goal. On that chance Bryant wasn’t able to get a clean shot of. This time was different as she chipped in a shot to make it 4-2 on a play that sent a Dolphins defender flying into the cage and knocking over.
At the moment Bryant’s goal was an exclamation point on the win, but with Cape Henry netting a goal with 11 seconds to play, it turned out to be the game winner with STAB taking the ensuing faceoff and melting off the rest of the clock.
In the first half both squads went back and forth with the Dolphins drawing first blood. But seven minutes later on a penalty shot that went top shelf from Lauren Gampper to even it up at 1-1. STAB took a 2-1 lead on a scrum in front of the net with Isabel Scholz finishing the job. However, Cape Henry answered right back with a goal with five minutes until the break to set up a defensive finish to regulation time.
On the day, Schoeb made 10 stops with six of them coming in the second half and a pair more made in OT.
STAB will head to Virginia Beach to play in the VISAA semifinals against St. Catherine’s.
