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Stone makes its debut in 3A South field hockey draw
Regional high school playoff previews
Friday, Oct. 30, 2009
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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. 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.
McDonough, was ousted from the 2A South playoffs, losing to Southern, 5-0.
Staff writer Michael Reid contributed to this story.
