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La Plata ousted
Field hockey team falls to Huntingtown in 3A South semi
Friday, Nov. 6, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Huntingtown's Stephanie Athens, left, and La Plata's Emily Guare battle for a loose ball in the first half.
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Before Huntingtown took the field in Tuesday's Class 3A South regional semifinal versus third-seeded La Plata, it formed a huddle and the coaching staff emphasized to its squad that it did not want to be satisfied with just having the Warriors number in the regular season.
The Hurricanes wanted payback from last year's 1-0 loss in the regional semifinals.
And Tuesday, Huntingtown got that payback, thanks in part to two first-half goals en route to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Warriors.
The second-seeded Hurricanes (10-4 overall) hosted eighth-seeded Northern on Thursday in the regional championship, which finished too late for inclusion into this edition.
Northern downed fifth-seeded J.M. Bennett, 3-2 on Tuesday in other 3A South action. The Hurricanes outlasted the Patriots 1-0 in the regular season on Sept. 15.
With a bag of bananas provided by Huntingtown head coach Shannon Persetic during the game, the win not only gave the Hurricanes momentum for Thursday's final versus a county rival, but a form of potassium, too.
"I will have to buy them more bananas to get them even more pumped up," said Persetic, jokingly. "We told the girls last night that they were going to have to come out fast and strong. We've taught them everything that we can teach them. They played strong through a lot of adversity, we've had girls out that's been sick and with the flu.
"Northern has improved, but we have a lot to prove also. We are prepared and hopefully can come out with a ‘W' in that one."
In the 14th minute, Huntingtown went on the board first when senior Katherine Athens lifted a shot that ricocheted off the right foot of La Plata goalie Molly Monaghan (six saves) and into the right corner of the cage to take the early 1-0 lead.
"We definitely had a fire under us in this game because La Plata's knocked us out of the playoffs the last few years," said Athens, a senior captain. "We really wanted to win this game and we know we beat them in the regular season, but we didn't take them lightly, they're a good team. So we wanted to come out and do our best and we came out with the win."
Athens added on her goal: "I just got open and took it [the shot] and it went it. The team got all hyped up and you know on the first goal everyone goes crazy. It's really exciting and I'm glad I could do that."
La Plata finishes the season 8-6-1 with the loss.
"I was very proud of how the girls played," La Plata head coach Pomie Radcliff said. "We knew after the regular season game against Huntingtown, this would be a close game. Both teams played a great defensive game, but Huntingtown outplayed us offensively. We had several opportunities to score, but Huntingtown's defense kept shutting us down."
With four minutes left in the first half, Grace Fadely put Huntingtown up 2-0 after she tapped in a shot through a crowd of Warriors right in front of the cage that barely broke the plain and into the goal.
"Grace overcame a lot, she was out since last Friday [sick]," Persetic said. "She was fighting everything and couldn't even make it to practice yesterday. She's a sophomore and has done everything that we've possibly asked. She plays hard, supports her team and I told her to, ‘Push and drive [the ball] it hard in there and that's what she did."'
In the 46th minute, Huntingtown added another goal this time, by Skyler Weaver on an Ashley Hicks assist.
The Warriors would respond with a score of their own by Chelsea Conger nine minutes later on a penalty stroke that slipped past Huntingtown goalie Kelsey Jones (five saves), but it wasn't enough as the contest came to a close.
"Chelsea Conger played a very tough and well executed game," said Radcliff, whose team earned a 9-0 shutout last Friday over sixth-seeded Westlake. "Wherever the ball was, so was Chelsea. Her penalty stroke shot boosted the team's morale during the second half, but at the end, Huntingtown's experience prevailed. It was a wonderful experience for our team and we are looking forward to next year's season."
Results
Huntingtown 3, La Plata 1
La Plata 0 1
Huntingtown 2 1
Goals: La Plata (Conger); Huntingtown (Athens, Fadely, Weaver)
Saves: La Plata (Monaghan 6); Huntingtown (Jones 5)
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