Mount hockey plucky, not lucky against Emmaus

Even supporters of mighty Emmaus were wowed by the performance of Mount sophomore Katie Reinprecht. The Lehigh Valley’s largest daily newspaper, The Morning Call, noted: “Throughout the game, Katie appeared to be the most talented player on the field.”  (photos by Lene White)

by TOM UTESCHER

ALLENTOWN - As daylight faded to dusk at J. Birney Crum Stadium on November 8th, the sun was also setting on Mount St. Joseph Academy’s field hockey season.

The Magic ended their 2005 campaign as they had started it, squaring off against the best field hockey franchise in the United States. Mount St. Joe’s scrimmaged at Emmaus High School back on August 25 when, after the equivalent of two regulation periods and 30-minutes of seven-on-seven overtime, the host Green Hornets had scored 14 goals to the Mount’s one.

Emmaus prevailed 4-0 at this month’s rematch in the first round of the state tournament, and while the final tally was much less lopsided than in the previous encounter, the play on the field was closer still. Emmaus led in the shot column by only a slim margin (14-12), and the Magic took a total of nine penalty corners to the Hornets’ five.

“We knew that we were a better team than when they saw us in August,” observed Lois Weber, who coaches the Magic along with Tina Reinprecht. “We were happy to be able to scrimmage them back then, because it showed us a lot of things we needed to work on.”

Emmaus, a fast, smart and highly-skilled squad which richly deserves its number-one ranking in the national polls, improved its record to 25-0 and rolled onward in quest of its second straight state championship. The MSJ Magic, who repeated as Catholic Academies champs and finished fifth in the District I tournament, ended their season at 20-5-1.

In the first round of the 2004 state tourney, on the same field, the Mount lost to Emmaus, 4-1, but the Magic actually performed better this time around.

“We were just so pumped to play them after what happened in August,” said Mount tri-captain Jess Mulhern, a speedy senior who’d been moved from midfield to forward to help the Magic apply more pressure up front. “I think the first half was awesome; it was the best we’ve played. I don’t think they were expecting us to come out as hard as we did. We wanted to keep going at them because we knew they like to charge at the ball.”

The contest was 0-0 until the first half clock fell below six minutes, and for much of the period, the Magic were the aggressors. The finishing touch eluded them, though. A breakaway by Mulhern about seven minutes in was thwarted by a pair of Emmaus backs, and from near the right endline fellow captain Katie Burke drove the ball across the goalmouth twice without the Mount getting wood on it in front of the cage. Another promising drive inside, this by sophomore Katie Reinprecht, also went untouched by the Magic.

During this stretch, the lone corner play by Emmaus was broken up by Reinprecht, and early in the match, Hornets senior Tara King narrowly missed on a sweep shot. King, a bruising hitter, would redeem herself on her team’s second corner, with 5:38 left in the first half. Off the insertion from the left by Jess Werley, Angie Lucik stopped and set the ball for King, who clubbed it past MSJ keeper Kieran Sweeney from the top of the circle.

For the first half, the Magic earned three corners to the Hornets’ two, but Emmaus doubled its total in the first four minutes of the second period. The second corner led to a goal, as the ball was hit to the top of the circle on the insertion and pinballed back down towards the cage as both attackers and defenders whacked at it. Amanda Huck finished the play to give the Hornets a 2-0 lead with 26:09 remaining.

Huck’s sister Abbey, the Emmaus goalie, saved Mount shots by Maginnis and Julia Reinprecht, and trapped and cleared a ball crossed into the middle by Katie Reinprecht. After the Magic’s Colleen McGowan tipped the ball just outside the left post of the Emmaus goal, and the Hornets rushed back up the right wing and went up 3-0 on a goal by Princeton-bound senior Christina Bortz with 20:02 left to play.

Speaking afterwards about Emmaus’ second-half scoring success, MSJ’s Weber said “I think we got caught off-balance, and there were a couple of times when they capitalized on their speed. They got the ball down the field quickly, and we got caught following them and not getting into our positions defensively.”

The Magic were unable to convert on a pair of corners near the middle of the period, and the Hornets completed their scoring with 14:29 remaining in the game. Mount St. Joe stopped the ball after it was driven inside from the right wing, but the Magic couldn’t clear it out of the circle, and Brae Dowling caged it for Emmaus.

The Hornets’ Huck stopped a lifted shot by Katie Reinprecht with ten minutes to go, and the 4-0 score held up through one last corner for the Mount and two for Emmaus.

The Magic were disappointed about the final outcome, but not with the way they’d played for most of the match.

As Weber put it, “Our kids have heart, and they won’t back down.”

UPDATE – Emmaus went on to repeat as state champion, clinching the title on November 19 with a 2-0 victory over local rival William Allen High School at J. Birney Crum. As in their first-round match with Mount St. Joe, the Hornets scored the game winning goal on a penalty corner featuring the familiar Werley-to-Lucik-to-King combination.