Miller’s first-half goal holds up as winner as Villa tops Mount St Joseph

MALVERN—It is never easy to play the same tough team twice in a season, let alone three times. For AACA foes Villa Maria and Mount St. Joseph, that third battle came in the District 1, Class AA semi-finals Tuesday afternoon at Maurene Polley Field at Villa Maria.

Each of the previous match-ups were won by Villa Maria by a single goal, and Tuesday was no different as the two teams fought and scratched out 60 minutes of quality field hockey. No. 2 Villa Maria once again emerged as the winner, edging No. 3 Mount 1-0 to earn a spot in Saturday’s District 1 championship game at Methacton.

In the title game, the Hurricanes will square off against another AACA rival, No. 8 Merion Mercy, a 2-0 winner over No. 4 Great Valley in the other semi-final Tuesday.

“I think as a defensive unit, we did a great job of shutting them down early,” said the Hurricanes’ Adele Iacobucci. “Our defense really won us this game. We’ve been working on defensive stops, and transitions up to the midfield. We knew where we were putting the ball and had intentions.”

The lone score of the game came with just under ten minutes to go in the first half, when Margaret Carden dished off to Hannah Miller, who slammed it home for the difference maker.

“We were dominating most of the first half,” said Miller. “We were just trying to work the ball up into the circle in front of the cage. I kind of saw an opening and knew I had to just go for it because we weren’t going to get a lot of opportunities. They were playing great defense, and because we know each other so well, we knew this was probably going to be a low scoring game.”

The Hurricanes were dominant, statistically speaking, holding a 15-2 edge in penalty corners, and outshooting Mount by an 11-4 margin.

“We came into this game really well prepared,” said Villa coach Katie Evans. “We took what we learned in the previous two games against Mount and put in it play today. We had a game plan and we stuck to it.”

When the Hurricanes take the field to defend their District 1 title Saturday, it will be the third time they will line-up across from Merion Mercy. Neither of the first two meetings were particularly close, with the Hurricanes winning by scores of 7-0 and 7-3. But don’t expect Villa to approach things any differently than they do any other game.

“We would never go into any game doing anything but what we always do, which is come out strong and play with intensity,” said Iacobucci. “This is a playoff game for a championship. Our games in the past are irrelevant. We’re both going to be trying to win a championship.”

Mount St Joseph 0 0 –0
Vila Maria Academy 1 0 –1

Goals: Miller
Goalie Saves: McCarthy (MSJ) 10, Zarkowski (VMA) 4