Exhausted Bears, Vikings share field hockey crown

Stonington — Stonington center back Colette Dreher, following 60 minutes of regulation and two overtime sessions of 10 minutes each — overtime in field hockey consists of 7-on-7, an up and down free-for-all — was asked if she'd prefer to keep playing to decide an outright champion.

"Oh, no," Dreher said. "I'm going to bed."

Stonington and East Lyme, so evenly matched during the year that they also went to overtime recently to decide a regular-season champion, finished the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament championship game in a 0-0 tie Thursday.

The teams were declared co-champions, the first time that's happened in the history of the tournament after Stonington won the first two. Likewise, Dreher shared Most Valuable Player honors with East Lyme's Katie Durkee.

The final 10-minute overtime featured enough drama for the rest of the game combined, with two near goals for Stonington's Miranda Arruda, one of which caused a premature celebration by the Bears' bench, which began joyously streaming onto the field.

Both goalies, first East Lyme's Lydia Swan, who somehow cleared a ball that was behind her, then Stonington's Abby Mann made big plays, as did Dreher, who seemingly had an ocean to cover on defense but did so

anyway.

"It's so scary. It's so tiring," Dreher said. "You're covering so much more ground (7v7). It's just a lot more work. As a defender, you're the last line before the goal. You do what it takes . ... We'll take it. It's better than a loss. We fought really hard all the way to the end."

"It's kind of a breakaway game (in overtime)," said Durkee, East Lyme center midfielder. "For neither team to be able to score, it shows how tough each team is, how great each team is."

Stonington (15-1-2) finished the first overtime on a penalty corner. The Bears took a timeout with sixth-tenths of a second remaining on the clock, but had all the time they needed to complete the corner.

They came up empty, setting up a final 10 minutes, with the ECC choosing to abide by the state tournament bylaw which appoints co-champions at the end of double overtime rather than playing further.

Arruda nearly scored for the first time in double overtime with 4 minutes, 38 seconds remaining. The official called for a Stonington corner before the shot, however, negating what would have been a goal.

With 3:58 left, Arruda struck again. She fired a ball which richocheted off the left post and then off Swan, behind the goalie back into the goal. It was ruled by the official not to have crossed the goal line ... except the reaction of the players on the field — Stonington's players leapt for joy and East Lyme's wore looks of dejection — said otherwise. That resulted in Stonington's bench players flooding the field, in much the manner of the Stanford band once upon a football game.

Swan cleared the ball and East Lyme (13-4-1) played on.

The next opportunity belonged to East Lyme's Sarah Healy, who broke away in the other direction but was met a significant distance from the goal by Mann, who came out to break up the play.

Swan made the final save of the game off a shot by Arruda with 36.6 seconds to play.

"Both teams played incredible," East Lyme coach Kristy Behbehani said. "It was an all-out fight. They just played a whole 60-minute game and then they played 20 more. Both teams are very deserving."

"Look at the quality of this game tonight," said Stonington coach Jenna Tucchio, whose team won its 10th straight regular-season ECC title. "This is what a tournament-quality game is supposed to look like. Look at the quality of play. Look at the quality of players.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com