October 12, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount hockey overcomes strong GA squad
by TOM UTESCHER

A goal scored late in the first half by sophomore Julie Reinprecht (#7) would prove to be the gamewinner in the Mount’s victory over GA. (Photo by Lene White)

Mount St. Joseph Academy’s field hockey team dropped out of the elite group of undefeated teams on Sept. 25, and nine days later the Magic hung the first loss of the season on the Germantown Academy Patriots.

Although host Mount St. Joe enjoyed a 2-1 edge at the interlude in last Wednesday’s encounter, the Pats hung with the Magic until about five minutes into the second half, when the Mount started to dominate the play and began a series of penalty corners which ultimately led to a 4-1 victory.

MSJ goalkeeper Kieran Sweeney, presented with a lot more pressure than she’d faced in the two preceding contests, stepped up with six saves, and Carolyn Cabrey, Julie Reinprecht, Brittany Gavin, and Jenny Sabia supplied the scoring as the Magic raised their record to 13-1 overall and remained 9-1 within their own Athletic Association of Catholic Academies.

Receiving a true aerobic workout in Wednesday’s game, GA junior Adrienne Ostroff rang up an impressive total of 16 saves. Senior Meg Cipilloni provided the Patriots with their goal, and Germantown came away with an overall mark of 8-1-1. The Pats were still undefeated in the Girls Inter-Ac League, at 3-0.

The Mount game was GA’s only outing last week; the Patriots had a non-league bout cancelled by their opponent on Thursday, and there were no games on Friday due to an in-service day at the school. For the Mount, Wednesday’s bout fell between two AACA matches on last week’s schedule. On Tuesday, the Magic went past visiting Nazareth Academy, 7-1, receiving two goals apiece from Katie Reinprecht and Nicole Schuster, and one each from Mollie Flynn, Julie Reinprecht, and Sabia.

Mount St. Joe was slated to travel to Merion Mercy on Friday. The Golden Bears had already managed to tie a tough Villa Maria team, and represented the last serious obstacle in the Mount’s quest for a first-place finish in the AACA regular season. Despite having that match in the offing [it would be postponed on Friday morning due to rain], the Magic were not looking past Germantown Academy, even a little bit.

Many players on the two teams know one another through club affiliations and other contacts.

Mount’s Katie Reinprect remarked “We knew that GA was going to be really good competition for us. They gave us a good game – I was tired by the end.”

The hosts got on the board with just two minutes gone, on a familiar play that began with a corner insertion from the left endline by Carolyn Cabrey. Katie Reinprecht received the ball high in the circle, dodged a few players, and sent the ball down towards the left post, where Cabrey was in position to smack it into the cage.

After another Mount corner, GA began to take the play to the Magic’s end. Speedy sophomore Becky Dobson broke past two MSJ players as she brought the ball down the right wing and then crossed it into the circle. There was a melee in front of the Magic goal that had Sweeney sprawled on the ground, but she kept the ball out. On another rush by the Patriots, MSJ’s Colleen McGowan cleared out a loose ball in front of the cage to preserve her squad’s slim lead.

With 11:02 remaining in the first half Germantown cashed in on its lone penalty corner play of the period, which began with junior Amanda Jones putting the ball in play to sophomore Rachel Magerman. The ball made its way from Magerman to Dobson, who in turn sent it towards the front of the cage where Cipilloni tapped it across the line.

The 1-1 tie stayed on the board until late in the period, with GA’s speed and aggressiveness being offset by the Mount’s controlled stickwork. On the last of the Magic’s five corners in the half, the ball went to Katie Reinprecht near the top of the circle, and she directed it to her left to set up a strong 15-yard shot by her sister Julie with 1:21 to go.

Although her team was ahead at halftime, Mount St. Joe coach Lois Weber commented “They beat us to the ball in the first half. We kept putting the ball to their strong side, and they were very effective at getting it down the field.”

After the break, the hosts did a better job of keeping the ball on their right wing, the dominant stick side for most players. They also did a better job of defending in their own circle.

“It was a question of discipline, of staying within your areas of responsibility,” noted Magic co-coach Tina Reinprecht.

On an early GA corner at the start of the second round, a threatening shot from the left by Magerman was deflected outside the far post by an alert Cabrey. After that, the Mount’s most effective defensive measure consisted of staying on the attack most of the time.

The Patriots had shown a lot of hustle in the first half, but as a result they’d expended a lot of energy on this unusually warm October afternoon. GA coach Ginny Hofmann felt that helped lead to the Mount’s 10-5 advantage in corners during the second stanza.

“I think we were getting a little tired, and when that happens we have trouble getting our feet out of the way,” she said. “That led from one corner to another and then we just really couldn’t get it out of our own end. The Mount put on the pressure – they’re a very good team and they have some great players.”

On the sixth attempt in a series of MSJ corners, Katie Reinprecht settled a bouncing ball high in the circle, and passed it over to her right, where Gavin drove a rising shot that passed safely through half-a-dozen players and entered the cage about four feet off the ground near the left post. It was the junior’s first goal of the season.

On their previous tallies, the Magic had made their assault from the left, so they’d decided to change things up.

“We did that because of the way [GA’s defenders] were coming out,” Katie Reinprecht said. “They started to fly on Julie, so we had Brit come around to the right.”

That marker came with 16:49 left in the match, and GA called time-out with 14:13 on the clock. However, three minutes later it was the Magic who would score again, tacking the 4-1 final score on the board. GA had disrupted a Mount corner and the ball had drifted out along the left endline, but the Magic brought it back inside. GA’s Ostroff fought off a few point-blank shots along the goal line, then a touch by MSJ’s Cabrey got the ball to Sabia near the right post, and she jabbed it in.

Late in the game, the Mount’s Sweeney made a tough save on a GA shot off of a corner, maintaining a three-goal margin for the hosts. The final stats also favored the Magic in shots (22-7) and corners (15-6).

Ideally, a team wants to win every game, but after this one GA’s Hofmann was not particularly concerned that her squad was no longer undefeated.

“I think after awhile it’s a burden,” she said. “It’s certainly much better to have that first loss come against a quality team out of the league than to have it happen later in a key Inter-Ac game.”