A ball lifted by Episcopal’s Corinne Kneizys (right) appears to hover in front of GA junior Carli McCrossen. In the second half of last Wednesday’s match, McCrossen scored the Patriots’ second and third goals of the game in a 50-second span. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

Last week Germantown Academy had its field hockey season ended in the semifinals of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools tournament, but it took one of the best teams in the nation to do it.

Facing fellow Inter-Ac League member Episcopal Academy, which has been ranked as high as third in the country this fall, the GA Patriots struck first, with senior Allie Ernst scoring on a tip-in nine minutes into the action. The EA Churchwomen, the number one seeds, came back to lead 2-1 at the half and then stretched the score to 5-1 10 minutes into the second half.

Fourth-seeded GA would not go quietly, closing the gap to two points in the middle of the period as junior Carli McCrossen thumped the backboard twice in less than a minute. Episcopal’s defense stiffened, and the host Churchwomen tacked on a late goal to emerge with a 6-3 victory and a 22-0 record.

Germantown saw its season conclude with an overall record of 16-7.

For the PAIS tourney, GA and the rest of the top six seeds did not have to play until the quarterfinal stage. In two opening-round games, Penn Charter was eliminated while Springside Chestnut Hill Academy topped Shipley School, 2-1. SCH then fell in the quarterfinals, 7-1, to second-seeded Academy of Notre Dame, the defending PAIS champion.

In the same round of play, EA blanked Hill School, 8-0, number three Agnes Irwin sent Westtown home, 7-2, while GA topped 2015 Friends Schools League champ Academy of the New Church, 7-2. Patriots freshman Sammy Popper had a hat trick and assisted two other goals, sophomore Colleen Carrigan registered two goals and two assists, and there were single strikes by McCrossen and by Shayne Cerebe, who is a senior co-captain for Germantown along with Ernst.

At the start of the season, many people expected GA to be in a rebuilding phase. Not only had 10 seniors graduated from the 2014 roster, but the Patriots had a new head coach in Jackie Connard, a 2006 GA grad who went on to become team captain at Brown University.

The Pats surprised the pundits by winning their first 10 games, all but one against non-league opponents. Things got a lot tougher in the Inter-Ac, though, and GA wound up in fourth place with a 4-6 record against five fellow league members. The seventh Inter-Ac school, Baldwin, had arranged for its varsity team to play against the JV squads of most of the other institutions.

The Pats played one very close game against each of the eventual PAIS finalists. In their first regular-season meeting with Episcopal, they forced the Churchwomen to come from behind to claim a 4-3 victory, and in their second Inter-Ac encounter with Agnes Irwin, the GA stickwomen were shaded by a score of 3-2.

After they opened the Indy Schools tournament with the ANC win last Tuesday, the Patriots discovered that they’d been playing out at Episcopal the following afternoon. The match had been scheduled for Thursday, but the teams wisely agreed to bump the game up one day to avoid the extensive rainfall that had been predicted for November 19.

The winds that would eventually bring the precipitation were already making themselves felt as the Patriots and Churchwomen assembled on EA’s Sonje Field. A light mist was felt just after the contest concluded, and even during the match the skies were so dark that the game officials asked that the field lights be switched on. One of the refs was elite whistlewoman Jade Carvalho, who has officiated numerous NCAA Division I national championship matches.

At the outset Episcopal pushed up the field and had senior Angela Rocca launch the first shot of the game, an attempt that was foiled with a kick save by GA’s sophomore goalie Hannah Santos (nine saves total). The defensive unit in front of the 10th grader was missing regular starter Ali Crump, a junior who had received a head wound in the ANC game.

After the initial EA onslaught GA attacked, earning the first corner of the day with three minutes gone and seeing a Popper shot track a little wide to the left. Soon after that, a belt by Cerebe was turned away by EA sophomore keeper Bridget Boyle. EA split halves between Boyle and freshman goalie Caroline Kelly, who each finished with two saves.

A little later GA was awarded another corner, and the insertion reached Carrigan at the top of the circle. She drove the ball down toward the left post, where Ernst was in place to redirect the ball into the cage.

The Patriots were on the board first with 21:09 remaining in the opening half, but their lead would only endure for 63 seconds. EA’s Margaux Paolino, a senior headed for Duke University, lifted a shot in from the left side of the circle to bring Episcopal even. At the 15-minute mark, EA backs broke up another GA corner play before a shot could be fired.

Episcopal added a second goal with seven minutes left in the opening period. Junior Corinne Zanolli (who has already made a verbal commitment to Stanford) brought the ball into the circle and it made its way across the front of the goal. North Carolina-bound senior Courtnie Williamson got a touch on the ball in the middle just before junior Jenna Lotsis stuffed it into the cage as she sealed off the far post.

On a GA corner with three minutes to go, Popper released a reverse stick shot, with the ball taking a hop before it was saved by Boyle. Down 2-1 at the half, GA actually led 4-0 in penalty corner column, but by the end of the match the Churchwomen had drawn even in that category, 6-6.

Episcopal applied heavy pressure as the second round got underway. On a corner with just under three minutes elapsed, the initial shot by Paolino was saved, but the hosts kept the ball in the circle and freshman Maddie Rehak scored with 26:41 on the clock. With 23:35 showing, Zanolli appeared unstoppable as she guided the ball past multiple GA defenders and got off a successful shot.

GA’s Sammy Popper (left, in foreground) drops down low to advance the ball past another freshman standout, Episcopal Academy’s Maddie Rehak. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

With her team now behind 4-1, the Patriots’ Connard called time-out.

“You could see in the faces of the girls as they were walking back after that fourth goal that they were feeling defeated. I wanted the time out to slow Episcopal’s momentum and to build our girls back up. I told them that I believed in them and that it was up to them how they would remember the end of their season.”

GA quickly earned a corner opportunity when play resumed, but couldn’t produce a shot. Instead, at the other end, Rehak slipped the ball through the top of the circle to help set up Zanolli’s second goal of the day with 19:49 on the ticker.

Germantown senior Shayne Cerebe went down with an injury and EA continued to attack, but at least the Patriots were able to foil a corner play by the Churchwomen with a little under 17 minutes to go. The visitors came back down the field, and this time they got results.

The Pats breached the circle on the right side and swarmed the cage, with McCrossen cashing in with 16:14 to play. Buoyed by their first goal since the opening 10 minutes of the match, GA reformed and mounted a similar assault. McCrossen was the finisher once more, converting off a pass from freshman Maddie O’Hara.

A time-out quickly followed as the Churchwomen realized they were not getting a free pass to the finals.

Both teams had scoring chances as the game wound down. There would be only one more goal, though, and it belonged to Episcopal. In the aftermath of a corner play, Paolino popped in her second of the day with 5:08 remaining.

Afterwards, Connard related, “I told the girls I was so proud of that effort, that we were able to get back into it after being down four goals.”

Her team’s 6-3 outcome at Episcopal looked even better two days later, in light of the 4-0 licking EA laid on Agnes Irwin in the championship game.

The rookie coach hadn’t known quite what to expect when the team first assembled for preseason practice back in August.

“I knew we had a talented young group and some good leaders,” she recounted. “One thing I couldn’t anticipate was how well they all came together as a team, especially with only a few returning varsity players.”

It helped that she had been a Germantown Academy athlete herself.

“They know that I’ve been where they are, that I understand the school and the emphasis that is placed on academics,” she said.

Connard mentioned that she had valuable coaching resources at the school in former longtime mentor Ginny Hofmann and a greatly experienced assistant hockey coach, Brooke Watson.

“I think one of the greatest improvements we made as a team was just in our confidence level,” she said. “We came through some rough, challenging stretches, and we grew from that experience. It’s really nice to see so many of the girls taking field hockey seriously and committing themselves to working in the offseason, and I’m very encouraged about the future of the program.”