O’Hara beats Carroll to win Catholic League title
ASTON >> Mia Scarduzio is a Cardinal O’Hara sophomore field hockey player.
Sara Grassi is a Lions senior.
Jenna and Carley Spaeder share the duties as O’Hara’s co-head coaches.
Before Monday night, only Grassi had walked off the field after taking part in a Catholic League field hockey playoff championship game in which the Lions were victorious.
“My freshman year, I was called up (from the junior varsity) for the playoffs and we won,” Grassi said. “But I didn’t play much.”
After 12 minutes and
54 seconds of overtime at Neumann University Monday, Grassi made a perfect pass to Scarduzio, and the
10th grader put the finishing touches on the goal that sent the O’Hara players, coaches and fans into a wild celebration as the topseed Lions claimed a 3-2 decision from the No. 2 Patriots.
Both teams will play Saturday in District 12 title contests at the Benjamin Johnston Memorial Field in North Philadelphia prior to taking part in the PIAA championships, which begin Nov. 5.
While the picturetaking with the Catholic League championship trophy as well as family members, teammates and friends went on long after the game ended, Scarduzio was having a tough time understanding what took place during the contest, in which she also scored a goal in the first half.
“It all happened in a flash,” she said. “But I know winning will be unforgettable.”
Few who witnessed the tense drama of overtime will forget as how Grassi took the ball down the alley to the left of the Carroll cage until she reached the outer edges of the scoring circle.
Scarduzio found herself clear of anyone in a Carroll uniform in the center of the circle, accepted a pass right on her stick, and delivered a shot that made that thumping sound which all goal scorers love to hear when it hit the back of the cage.
“I carried the ball and two of their defenders collapsed on me,” Grassi said. “I looked up and saw Mia there in the circle and gave her the ball. I honestly couldn’t tell you anything that happened even five seconds before that. It was just so great that she scored.”
Both teams had a pair of penalty corners in the extra period but failed to finish their scoring chances. Emma Shallow made a key defensive play for O’Hara and Sami Randazzo’s long clears kept Carroll away from Lions goalie Giannia Travia.
“Our coaches kept telling us that we could win this if we played as a team,” said Scarduzio, who played CYO field hockey at St. Francis School in Springfield. “So we knew we had to stay together.”
Randazzo’s older sister, Jess, who is a graduate assistant at Rider University, and her brother, Steve, who is majoring in engineering at Widener University, were members of Catholic League championship teams in their days at O’Hara. Jess was an AllDelco field hockey player and Steve played football.
“I’m glad I’ve finally got (a PCL title),” Randazzo said. “We’ve practiced overtimes, but this was the first game this year that we played overtime. We just had to make sure we kept the ball moving up the field.”
Katie Shallow was dangerous on attack in the extra session for O’Hara but could not get a shot to go into the cage.
“Just before overtime the coaches reminded us to give it our all for the next
15 minutes,” Shallow, whose older sister, Kerry, is one of the Lions’ assistant coaches and played for a PCL championship team in the one year she attended O’Hara. “I’m glad it took less than
15 minutes.” Carleigh Conners scored Carroll’s two goals in the first half. The Patriots got solid defensive play from Carly Bateman, Conners, Grace O’Neill and Nicole Pawelec but missed having two-way standout Carly Dougherty, who was injured late in the second half, available for overtime.
“We fought all the way,” Carroll head coach Christina Elisio said. “We know our season is not over, so we’ll have to come back and be ready for our next game.”