Villa Maria cruises to District 1, 2A field hockey crown
EAGLEVILLE—Villa Maria doesn’t win a district championship in field hockey every year, but sometimes it feels that way. The Hurricanes added one more to their collection of District 1 championship trophies Saturday afternoon, cruising to a 5-1 victory over Merion Mercy to claim their second straight District 1, Class 2A crown, and their fourth in the past five years.
“This just feels great,” said first-year Hurricane coach Katie Evans. “This is a very special group of girls. To have a group like this, with such great players and great girls, I just feel really lucky for the situation I came into for my first year.”
The Golden Bears kept pace with the Hurricanes early on, keeping Villa off the board for the first eight minutes before the Hurricanes converted on a penalty corner. Villa sent the ball to Adele Iacobucci on the insert, and the Virginia recruit unleashed a rocket from the top of the circle, rattling it off the wood in the back of the cage for a 1-0 lead.
“It’s always important to get on the board first,” said Iacobucci. “Then it seems we all get a little more confident, and then we really got going and scoring. It always feels great to win the district championship. We work really hard all year to win these kinds of games. We all played really well today.”
With that first goal out of the way, Villa went to work, scoring three more goals in the next 15 minutes of play, two from Meghan Dillon, and then one from freshman Annie Shaw, with an assist from Iacobucci.
“Once we get our first goal, our first thought is to spend the next minute pushing hard,” said Dillon. “We just want to keep scoring, because that team is still in it unless we keep playing hard and scoring. Even though we are kind of used to winning, the feeling of being a champ never gets old.”
The Golden Bears cut the lead to 4-1 just before the break. Awarded a penalty corner in the final minute of the half, Tori Natale put a pass on the stick of Alex Lavelle, and Lavelle slipped it in for the score.
But while Villa scored just one more goal in the game, with Maggie Carden scoring unassisted midway through the second half, Merion Mercy never really threatened the rest of the way.
“I think that even though we played really well today, there are still plenty of things we can, and will need to improve on as we head into states,” said Iacobucci. “Though our connections have been good, and we’re bringing the ball down the field well, there are still times when we’ve got opportunities and not finishing. But we are all ready to see if we can make another run at a state championship.”
Up next for Villa Maria is a first round state tournament game Tuesday, Nov. 6, against Berks Catholic, the sixth-place finisher from District 3, at a site and time to be determined.
“I love the way that these girls are never satisfied with just scoring a goal, and want to keep their foot on the gas,” said Evans. “You need that attitude, especially as you move on in states. We’ve found a system that’s working and we’ve just got to keep it going. There’s always some things to work on and tweak, but really we’ve just gotta keep riding the wave.”
Merion Mercy 1 0 –1
Villa Maria 4 1 –5
Goals: Dillon (2), Iacobucci, Shaw, Carden
Goalie Saves: O’Connor (MM) 18, Zarkowski (VM) 9
