Season comes to a close for St. Charles field hockey

Blanked by Calvert in 2A South section final

Monday’s Class 2A South Region Section I final between St. Charles and host Calvert was a battle to see which team would continue its season and who would hang it up until next year.

Seniors on both teams were excited to see if they could prolong their seasons and careers further. And after a hard 60 minutes of play, it was Calvert getting to the next round with a 3-0 win.

“It went pretty good. I think we were doing good, but there’s always room for improvement and stuff,” Cavaliers sophomore Alexis Melancon said. “We talked to each other, we remembered our passing and we remembered to watch our feet. And to look at the goalie’s feet, because we never want to aim at the feet. I’m excited, I think that we can do well if we all continue working together and talking. I just want to play our hardest, it doesn’t matter if we win or lose, we are still a team. I just want to keep that unit together.”

Calvert (4-8 overall), the top seed in Section I, played in the 2A South final on Wednesday at Kent Island, the top seed in Section II.

Melancon started the scoring for her team by sliding a shot on goal through the legs of St. Charles goalie Rachel Hendricks early in the first half. Hendricks managed to save nine more attempts on goal in the first half, but only let Melancon’s shot go in.

St. Charles looked to have scored on Keiana Poindexter’s first-half tally, but play had already stopped and the goal didn’t count, leaving the Spartans down 1-0.

“We know they’re a fast-paced team,” St. Charles head coach Dwayne Hendricks said. “We had some good battles there, but we just couldn’t put one in the goal. One of our shots didn’t count. They said they didn’t take it all the way out of the circle, but it was a nice hard hit, a line drive and I think that kind of changed the momentum of the game a little bit. It kind of took a little wind out of us.”

In the second half, Calvert got back to work with Hill scoring the next goal on a penalty corner to make it 2-0. The last goal of the game came off of Hanway’s stick that found its way into the back of the goal.

“I think we played our hearts out,” St. Charles senior Mackenzie Shughart said. “I’m very proud of my whole team. I know we will do an even more amazing job next year and win even more playoffs. It actually feels really good, only because we’ve accomplished so much this year. We were able to have four wins and all the other years. We’ve only had one. We set history for the St. Charles High School field hockey team.”

The Spartans (4-9), the second seed in the section, advanced to Monday’s contest after defeating Westlake, the third seed, 8-0.

“Overall, we had a really good season this year,” Dwayne Hendricks said. “It was our best season we’ve had year to date, so we’re pleased. It’s tough to swallow. We have five seniors leaving tonight and this is their last game. but I think we’re going to pick it up and have a good season next year.”