Seven sectional titles in row for Rondout
Ganders use strong finish to top Pine Plains to make it seven straight sectional titles
KINGSTON, N.Y. » All the hard work on penalty corners paid off for Rondout Valley High’s field hockey team Friday as it scored three times, twice on corners, in the final 13 minutes to win a seventh consecutive Section 9 title.
The Ganders pulled out a 4-1 triumph over Pine Plains at Dietz Stadium to repeat as Class C champions. Rondout had won Class B from 2011-15 before moving down.
Lea Smith scored off a pair of Erin Weimann passes and Shilo Cole added an unassisted goal to break a 1-1 tie in the late going.
“I’m been on the varsity team for four years and each year we’ve won it,” Rondout goalkeeper Courtney Smith said. “It’s just great to carry through our senior year, and I’m just really proud of how my team played today.”
Added Weimann, “That was really important to me, being a senior. I’m very happy. We deserved it.”
“It feels amazing, considering that it is our seventh straight win,” said Lea Smith, a second-year varsity member. “I just feel that we played our hearts out and, in the second half, we definitely bumped it up to where we’re supposed to be playing.”
Rondout (15-1-2) returns to Dietz on Nov. 5, playing either Whitney Point or Afton of Section 4 in a 4 p.m. regional final. The winner advances to the state final four.
Pine Plains (6-8-1) could not capitalize on opening pressure in the first five minutes.
“We came in here knowing that they had gotten a lot better since the first time we played them,” Weimann said.
“Pine Plains definitely did put up a fight and I’m really happy with the way they played,” Courtney Smith said. “We have some close friends on the that team, and I’m happy that they challenged us today because, going into regionals, I think it would be good for us.”
The Ganders took the lead when Courtney Coffey tapped a shot behind goalkeeper Alice Wilser off a corner 11:01 into the match. The Bombers tied two minutes later on a defensive lapse when Meghan Murray struck a 25-yard pass to the far post to a wide open Jackie Povall. Her deflection made it a 1-1 game.
Rondout pressed to reclaim the lead before halftime. Sophia Schoonmaker sent a backhander through the circle, but nobody could get a stick down. Schoonmaker later blasted a shot from the top of the circle with 2:30 left, but Wilser deflected that bid.
The Ganders dominated play, outshooting Pine Plains 18-1, but the Bombers defense and especially Wilser (eight saves) stepped up to keep the match tight.
Wilser denied Rondout through the first 14 minutes of the second half. She kicked away a Weimann shot seven minutes into the half. The junior went to the ground twice, stopping a Schoonmaker shot with 19 minutes to go and pushing away another bid off a corner with 14 minutes left.
The Ganders, who had 14 corners in the game, finally broke the deadlock with 12:18 remaining when Weimann drove a pass from the top of the circle down to Smith for the goal. The duo paired up again on another corner for an insurance goal with 7:27 left.
“I had to keep my head up, of course, and I noticed that the two (defenders) were split, so I just put it right through the middle and she’s always there,” Weimann explained.
Cole tacked on the final goal with a short backhander from the left side with 4:53 to play.
“I think we played our absolute best, and I’m very happy that we all stepped it up during the second half,” Lea Smith said. “I definitely felt we had it in us. We just had to get in the game mode.”
Rondout is gunning for its first state final four berth in nine years, when the team reached the Class B final.
“We want it,” Courtney Smith said.
“I think that we are going to give it our all, whatever happens happens, but it’s well deserved either way,” Weimann said.
“We’re really excited. I believe that we have the potential to get there,” Courtney Smith added. “We just have to put in the work.”