North East's Abby Riley contracted a serious case of the feels. The Indians' midfielder scored the game-winning goal in a shootout to propel her team to a pulsating, pressure-packed triumph (0-0, 2-1 in the 1 v 1 shootout) over its fiercest rival, Rising Sun, in a field hockey region tournament game Thursday afternoon. "It is the best feeling in the entire world," said Riley. "I've never felt a feeling ever like that before. It was, by far, the best feeling I've ever had." Neither team scored through 60 minutes of regulation time and two 10-minute seven-on-seven overtime periods, sending the game to a five-round 1 v 1 shootout. In the shootout, the attacking player begins on the 25-yard line and has 10 seconds to try to score. The attacker is allowed as many shots as time permits and the regular rules apply.
Each team then tallied once in a five-round 1 v 1 shootout. That meant the game came down to a sudden death shootout with teams alternating attempts and the contest ending when one team scores in the round and the other one does not. The host Indians were a fraction of a second from losing in the first sudden death round after Rising Sun's Biz Hurm went first and converted her chance. North East's Keegan Carew was next. Carew, who had already scored during the five-round shootout, needed a goal to keep her team alive. Carew was thwarted by Tigers' goalie Jess Rea on her first shot. With her 10 seconds just about to expire, Carew used a reverse sweep to knock the ball into the cage. The referee remarked to reporters standing behind the end line that she was a split second from blowing her whistle before Carew converted. "I had to get it in as soon as I could and I didn't really think about it," said Carew. "I just let my stick do the work, I guess." Indians' goalie Erika Schmidt prevented a score from Rising Sun's next shooter, setting the stage for Riley. "We've been practicing 1 v 1s all week," Riley said. "And every single time I step up to do one, I always feel so pressured. But the last time, I knew I had to get it in there and it would be over, and I just wanted to get it over with, so I had to get it right in there." Riley failed to score during the five-round shootout. Undaunted, she went back to what had worked during practice. "I did the same technique," said Riley. "The first time, I just didn't get around as much as I needed to." It was over. The Indians had exacted revenge over last year's playoff loss to Rising Sun and eliminated their nemesis. "It's extremely special," Riley said. "They have been our field hockey rivals from day one." Said Carew: "It was an amazing feeling. For the past four years we have not been able to beat them. This is my senior year and getting to beat them was an amazing experience. I'm proud of my team." The Indians knew it would not be easy. The rivalry had been one-sided in recent years. In addition to last season's playoff game, the Tigers won this year's regular season contest 1-0. North East coach Kendie Hudson said her squad saved its best performance of the season for the biggest stage. "They play big in big games," Hudson said of her team. "They know this game means everything. It's do-or-die. They knew they had to go until their legs couldn't go anymore." Rising Sun dominated the early stages of the regular season game. Thursday, it was the Indians who started strong. A couple minutes into the contest, North East had several glorious scoring opportunities. The ball was in the Rising Sun goal mouth for what seemed like an eternity, but the Indians were unable to flip it over the Tigers' sprawling goalie Rea. The remainder of the first half and second half were played on even terms. In the first 10-minute overtime period, Rising Sun could not convert several outstanding chances. "We had opportunities that we missed but [that happens] every game," Rising Sun coach Katie Keyes said. "I'm not at all disappointed in the way that we played. I'm disappointed in the outcome, but I'm proud of all of our players." She feared the missed opportunities would come back to haunt the Tigers. "It's frustrating," she said. "But, again, I really think that every girl on the field did all that they could. It just didn't translate into a goal like we hoped." In the second OT period, Rising Sun did put a ball in the cage but it did not count because the ball had caromed off a Tiger player's body. Both teams were prepared for the 1 v 1 shootout. "We practice one-on-ones almost every single day," Hudson said. "Whether it's just me against Erika, or the players in competition 1 v 1s, it's really important in our daily practice…I was pretty confident. I knew that the girls have practiced them really hard. they work hard over the summer, through the fall, through the winter and the spring, and they knew what they were going to go do. they were good to go." Carew led off the 1 v 1 shootout with a goal. "It's kind of terrifying," she said. "We've never done that before in a game so that was my first time ever doing it. Having me do it twice was pretty scary but I pulled it out." Neither team scored again until the bottom of the fourth round when the Tigers' Marissa Cooper equalized. When both teams came up empty in the fifth round, the game continued. There's psychology involved in the shootout, the Indians' goalie Schmidt said. "We've been practicing this all week pretty much and we've never done it before [in a game]. We've only done strokes," she Schmidt. "The shootout is different. But when it's all quiet and it's one-on-one, I think it depends on the person. For me, it felt like [the pressure] was on me. But when I was watching them, I thought [the pressure] was all on them." The win was retribution for Schmidt. "I think we're all really happy because last year, it was the same thing except it was the first overtime," Schmidt said. "And the shot [that went in] was so awful. It just so happened to go in. Same spot." It was a particularly meaningful victory for Hudson, who suffered her share of losses to Rising Sun when she played for Perryville. "I'm so proud I'm in tears," Hudson said. "I'm just proud of every single one of them. They work work so hard every single day in practice. They never give me lip. They're always just happy and spunky kids. They've worked from when we were really getting scored on a lot to where we're winning and they're the same kids no matter what." Comments are closed.
|
Categories
All
Archives
December 2018
|