October 26, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount hockey captures third AACA title
by TOM UTESCHER

Mount St. Joseph Field Hockey – 2006 AACA Champions, front (L-R): goalies Kieran Sweeney and Caitlin O’Donnell, Middle: Carolyn Cabrey, Colleen McGowan, Co-Captains Megan Sabia and Meghan Longacre, Katie Reinprecht, Laura Iacovetti, Rear: Coach Lois Weber, Ally McLaren, Carla Bryant, Brittany Gavin, Julie Reinprecht, Jen Sabia, Nicole Schuster, Mollie Flynn, Laura Thistle, Caroline Holmes, Coach Tina Reinprecht

Back in late September, Mount St. Joseph Academy received the number one ranking in a Southeastern PA field hockey poll, and in their very next outing the Magic were dealt their first loss of the season, a 4-2 setback at Villa Maria.

Last Thursday evening, the Mount was given the number one seed for the District I Class AAA tournament, and the next day the local sticksters played for the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies championship against - you guessed it - Villa Maria.

The Magic would not let the same obstacle trip them up twice. Expanding on a 1-0 halftime lead, the Mount emerged with a convincing 4-1 victory that raised its overall record to 18-1. It was the third straight league title for Mount St. Joe, which defeated Villa’s Hurricanes for the honor last fall, and topped Merion Mercy in the 2004 finals.

In 2005, the championship game was played on true field hockey turf at Ursinus College. For 2006, the match took place a few miles up the road from Villa Maria, on Immaculata University’s multi-purpose Sprint Turf® field. Nevertheless, it was a uniform surface compared to most grass fields, and the Magic were able to employ the precise stickwork that has become their trademark.

The Mount had beaten Villa 3-1 in the first of their two regular-season meetings. The Magic took a 12-1 league record into the playoffs (they’d only played St. Basil once), and dispatched Gwynedd Mercy in the AACA semifinals, 7-0. Villa, which had tied with Merion Mercy in one of their two encounters, finished the regular-season at 11-1-1 (and 15-1-1 overall), and then defeated Merion in the league semifinals, 4-3.

Friday’s championship bout began late on a blustery, overcast afternoon, and finished up as a chilly affair under the lights at Immaculata’s Draper Walsh Stadium, which opened last spring. The 5:30 PM start ensured that each side was backed by a large, enthusiastic cheering section.

The Mount crowd erupted almost immediately, as Carolyn Cabrey’s corner insertion found fellow junior Katie Reinprecht at the top of the circle, and Reinprecht pounded the ball home just 63 seconds into the action.

“When you play a team that’s aggressive and skilled, you have to get up on them,” asserted MSJ coach Lois Weber.

Soon afterwards, on a similar stroke by the Mount standout, the ball struck the backboard in Villa’s goal, but Reinprecht had fired from a step outside the scoring circle, and nobody got a touch on the ball inside the loop. Her sister Julie, a sophomore, sent an early shot just wide to the right and later had an attempt foiled by Hurricanes goalkeeper Kelly Swanick (15 saves).

Magic sophomore Jen Sabia just missed a shot at the right post, and junior Brittany Gavin sent a pass across the front of the Villa goal, but none of her teammates were there to put wood on the ball.

At the other end, Villa’s Meghan Ryan carried the ball into the circle with a lot of speed, but had it taken away by Katie Reinprecht, and in a promising assault along the left endline, Alex Opp lost the ball out-of-bounds just before reaching the near post. MSJ keeper Kieran Sweeney (six saves) stopped a shot by the ‘Canes with a little under four minutes to go, and on a Villa corner hit in the final seconds of the half, the ball leaked out at the top of the circle.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, the Mount’s 1-0 lead was still holding up, but the Magic were far from reaching the comfort zone.

“A team like Villa is not going to go away,” pointed out Tina Reinprecht, the Mount’s co-coach and the mother of Katie and Julie. “They were down a goal to Merion with six minutes left [in the league semifinals] and came back to win it.”

Villa is particularly dangerous on the transition, a fact well known to the Magic’s defenders.

“They have a strong offense, so we wanted to make sure we kept them out of our 25 and we did that pretty well,” said senior back Meghan Longacre. “Our outside backs, like Carolyn [Cabrey] and Carla [Bryant] did a great job of keeping them channeled out.”

Cabrey, who’d moved from midfielder to back just a few games earlier, explained, “They wanted me to take the outside girl [Sera Berlacher] because Villa always uses that. They always hit it to that sideline girl and try for the breakaway.”

At the start of the second half, Villa had the Magic penned up in their defensive half for the first five minutes, then the Mount broke loose and initiated a series of corners (the winners wound up with a 15-8 advantage in this category). Four of the game’s five goals would be scored in the last 15 minutes.

“Things started opening up a little bit more,” Tina Reinprecht remarked. “It’s a 60-minute game, and kids get tired. We’re knocking, knocking, knocking, and eventually you break through.”

As the clock descended from 24 to 18 minutes remaining, Villa Maria fended off six corners by the Magic. The Mount’s best chances came on a tip by Cabrey just inches outside the left goal post, and a sizzler slapped from the top of the circle by Katie Reinprecht that was deflected wide of the cage by the Hurricanes. After another close call at the left post, where Villa’s Swanick stopped a shot by Sabia, the Mount earned a corner with 14:41 remaining and called a time-out.

When the action resumed with Cabrey making the hit out from the endline, Villa’s defenders quickly got to Reinprecht up top, so she freed herself with a dribble-dodge and sent the ball down low. Her creativity paid off, as Sabia was positioned at the left post and tipped in the eventual gamewinner.

“We planned on doing something else,” Sabia revealed. “After the play got messed up I waited to see what Katie would do. When she hit it I just stuck my stick in the way.”

Cabrey recalled, “That second goal kind of started us on a roll.”

The Mount scored again with 11:41 to go. Villa’s Swanick hit the turf as she stopped the initial shot, and the Magic closed in on the loose ball like a pack of dingoes. Gavin had one of the shots off the rebound, but it was freshman Nicole Schuster who finally forced the ball over the goal line.

Villa Maria’s lone goal went in the books with 10:50 left in the match, when Maria Malonosky put the ball in play on a penalty corner and Ryan followed through with a successful drive from high in the circle. The Magic quickly responded, going up 4-1 with 9:10 remaining.

On a scramble in front of the cage that ensued from yet another Mount corner, the Hurricanes’ Swanick dove to stop a shot by MSJ’s Schuster, and once again the prone keeper was swarmed by Mounties. Schuster and Sabia each had a go at the loose ball before Cabrey knocked it in, tacking the final score on the board.

“They’re an excellent team,” longtime Villa Maria coach Maurene Polley said afterwards. “They beat us to balls; they played well and they

deserved to win.”

Polley’s club was headed into the Class AA district tournament, where Villa was the second seed.

A tough triple-A tourney was in the offing for the Magic, but the AACA title was something to be treasured, particularly for the seniors, Bryant, Longacre, Mollie Flynn, and Megan Sabia.

Longacre related “We looked at each other at the beginning and said, ‘This is our last AACA championship game; let’s go out with a bang,’ and I think we did that tonight.”