Kingston wins 4th straight MHAL title
Tigers win 4th straight MHAL title with 2OT win over Rondout Valley
RED HOOK, N.Y. >> Scoring opportunities were few and far between Thursday as it took nearly 73 minutes for Kingston High to break a scoreless tie and win a fourth consecutive MidHudson Athletic League field hockey championship.
The unbeaten Tigers edged Rondout Valley 1-0 as Bridgie Loughlin scored the game-winner 2:53 into the second overtime on Hannah Timbrouck’s assist. Timbrouck drew Gander goalkeeper Azure Jones to her right and crossed to Loughlin, who tapped it into an open cage.
“On the corner, I saw the free ball and I said to myself, ‘I got to go to that’ and I got it, saw Bridgie and I just knew I had to pass it to her,” Timbrouck said. “As soon as it got past that goalie, I knew that Bridgie had the goal and I was already celebrating.”
“I saw the ball coming across my legs and I saw that the goal was wide open. I took my time, because I knew I had it and I got it in,” said Loughlin, a member of all four title squads with teammates Tori Quick and Rieley Fitzgerald. “It’s amazing. Finishing that game that way, it just feels great and winning this for four years is just such a great feeling.”
Rondout (12-4) made adjustments after losing 2-0 to Kingston two weeks ago and did a terrific job of pinning Loughlin and Timbrouck on the outer wing and crowding the circle defensively. The Tigers (13-0) possessed the ball more, but had few shots on goal.
“The first time we played them, it felt like a much more complete game. I wasn’t worried. I felt that we definitely outmatched them and outskilled
them, in my opinion,” Kingston coach Erin Koonz said. “Coming into today, I knew it would be different, because it would be the final and emotions would be high and it wasn’t a regular season game anymore. I anticipated it would be a bit more dramatic. I didn’t think it would be like this but, knowing the rivalry, it kind of makes sense that it have to go this way.
“She (Rondout coach Nanette Simione) clearly made adjustments with her team since we played them and they executed. We had to rearrange some of our stuff at the beginning of the game to change what we saw and that’s just good field hockey. It’s exciting,” Koonz said.
“Her defense is very good. We had to make some adjustments, she added. “We had a lot of turnovers. We took a little while to get ourselves together, but it worked out.”
Neither team could capitalize on earlier chances like Loughlin’s crossing pass in the first half and another from Rondout’s Mackenzie Heyl early in the second. Rieley Fitzgerald intercepted Jones’ clearing kick four minutes into the second half, but couldn’t establish clean control.
Kingston put the pressure on in the waning minutes of regulation, getting two penalty corners in the final 6:40, but it led to only wide shot.
Rondout had the better of the play for the first five minutes of the first 7-on-7 10-minute overtime. Lauren Dunn had a shot for the
Ganders that went wide. Kingston gained possession and forced three corners in the final 4:30. Sophia Schoonmaker made a big stop on a Tori Quick shot with 4:25 left in that period.
Larkin Uhl and Timbrouck forced the corner with 7:40 remaining in the second OT that led to the game-winner.
“I think we didn’t have as many corners as we’ve had in other games,” said Loughlin, whose team had an 8-2 edge in corners over the Ganders.
“It started off with Larkin getting the free hit all the way out. I knew I had to go and get it,” Timbrouck explained. “I saw the girl right in front of me. I knew I wasn’t going to get the shot, so I just hit it right into her feet. That’s when we got the corner.”
The combination of playing
in a final and being confronted by Rondout’s new scheme had the Tigers off kilter.
“I felt like we were a bit passive,” Koonz admitted. “I felt like we were a little scared in the beginning. We were turning our backs a lot. We were shying away, which was very unlike us. I don’t know if it was the magnitude of the game or we were nervous or we felt like we were in good position, which we were.
“I think it was just a bit of self doubt, so I was trying really get them to have that confidence and say, ‘We belong here. We should be here. You guys have the skills. You have the skill set to win a game like this. We just have to find it and I think that took us awhile, finding our ability to win. It took almost 80 minutes, so it took a long time.”