Braves, Raiders grab No. 1 seeds in field hockey

Regional high school playoff previews

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

For Thomas Stone sixth-year head coach Melissa Hatch, even this is a new experience when it comes to field hockey. And that's saying something given Hatch and the sport have become synonymous with each other over the years, as she has been instrumental in reviving Stone's program while spearheading the development of players during the offseason to better the product for all Charles County schools.

But, prior to these playoffs, Hatch had never coached in the Class 3A South region, her team's new postseason destination after realignment before the school year dropped Stone (7-7) down from the 4A East. Stone's debut in the 3A South was slated for Thursday against J.M. Bennett of Wicomico County..

"This is the first time that I will be coaching in [the 3A South]," Hatch said. "Every region is going to have strong and weak teams. Hopefully we are on the stronger end."

She added Wednesday about facing J.M. Bennett, "We cannot underestimate this team just because we see their overall record. We have really no idea what we are up against, so we need to come out strong and ready to play. Lucky for us, we are on our home field so we should have the advantage."

A win in the quarterfinals would advance Stone to the semifinals round to play either top-seeded Chopticon (8-4) or randomly eighth-seeded Northern (8-7). The last time Chopticon and Northern got together during the regular season, the tight affair came down to penalty strokes. Chopticon prevailed, 3-2.

"Chopticon had a great season, and yes we were fourth in SMAC. However, we lost a couple of close games," Chopticon head coach Anne Vallandingham said. "As the top seed, we have work to do. It does make it nice to have home-field advantage, and often others are trying to upset the No. 1 team. Knowing the other [SMAC] teams can be an advantage, but it is often hard to beat a team twice.

"Northern will provide a good challenge to get ready for the next round, and as I say, you never overlook anyone."

"I'd have to say communication," Northern head coach Nicole Kerfoot said about what her team needs to improve most in the playoffs. "The girls don't seem to talk on the field. I don't know why, [because] they're always talking at practice. But they need to talk and let [everyone] know where they are so we can make better passes and get more movement up the field."

During the regular season, Stone downed visiting Northern, 2-1, but fell to Chopticon on the road, 3-1.

The other SMAC contenders in what has the look of possibly being a wide-open 3A South bracket are second-seeded Huntingtown (8-4) and third-seeded La Plata (7-5-1). The top four seeds were all within one win of each other in the regular season.

Huntingtown and La Plata seem to be on a collision course to meet each other in the regional semifinals. During their regular season encounter, Huntingtown came out on top, 3-1.

The SMAC also has an array of contenders in the 2A South and 4A East regions.

SMAC champion Patuxent (12-2) is the second seed in the 2A South and positioned in the bottom half of the bracket that also includes county rival Calvert, seeded third.

Calvert outdueled Patuxent in a 1-0 win in late September during both teams' regular season clash.

"We will need to work on our defense all over the field, forwards included," Patuxent head coach Lynn Powell said about the team's approach entering the postseason. "It is a team effort, and no one is exempt from any aspect of the game. We have had some unforeseen changes lately, which can only make us stronger, but we now need to come back together and mesh as we did throughout the first half of the season. This is not a team with one hero. They are a team with multiple talents that are selfless and determined to get the best from each other."

"We're at a point now where I feel we're prepared for regionals," Calvert head coach Megan Williams said. "We're ready to go into regionals and be strong and hopefully take that regional crown. I don't know if you can ever say you're satisfied with everything. We need to start every game in regionals [with aggressiveness and intensity]. I feel we have the skills and the speed to be able to go far."

McDonough, the SMAC's other 2A South representative, has already been ousted from the playoffs, losing in the first round to Southern by a 5-0 margin.

By virtue of its 12-2 record in the regular season, Leonardtown secured the top seed in the 4A East. It plays Annapolis in the quarterfinals.

Great Mills (5-8) is at fourth-seeded Severna Park in the other quarterfinals in the top half of the bracket. So an all-St. Mary's County semifinals showdown could be in the making should both clubs thrive in the quarterfinals.

dcogle@somdnews.com

Staff writer Michael Reid contributed to this story.