Both teams look on as senior Sarah Klingerman’s shot hits the back of the cage. Mya Falkenhain’22 fights for the ball. Suzy L’Hommedieu follows through on a pass. (Courtesy/Mark L’Hommedieu)
The 11-1 field hockey team continued its march to defend its state championship at home on Tuesday, October 6 against New Albany, Thursday, October 8 against Granville, and Monday, October 12 against Hudson.
The Vikes knew New Albany would be a tough matchup, with the Eagles having only lost to Bishop Watterson, the same team which handed our girls their only loss so far of the season. The game also received some extra hype because Senior Captain Regan Cornelius’s younger sister plays for New Albany, with the Vikes dubbing the game the “Cornelius Sister Showdown.” The Academy players’ excitement for this showdown was apparent, with the team fighting hard throughout the game.
Despite New Albany’s quality, our girls came out on top, with goals from Sarah Klingerman’21 (3), who commanded the circle all game, and Cornelius (1) delivering the squad a 4-0 win.
Two days later against Granville, Cornelius struck once more with one goal apiece coming from Carolyn Vaziri’22 and Annabelle Huyghe’22 to add another game to the team’s win column.
Then, on the Upper School’s day off, our girls played on Carlin field for the final time this regular season against Hudson. As expected, Hudson put up a good fight, scoring first and holding the lead until the fourth quarter when Cornelius started a run towards the goal at the 50. She was then fouled at the 25 and continued her run into the circle where she was fouled once more. Cornelius then took the ball to the baseline and tucked it in for the game-tying score. This goal sent the game to overtime, where Suzy L’Hommedieu’21 quickly ended the tight game for the Vikes with a goal.
This 2-1 win put the squad’s record to 14-1 on the season. The win also secured the team’s one-seed for the state tournament.
On Wednesday, October 14, the Vikes will look to close out the regular season with a win at Bexley.
