Hotchkiss field hockey wins New Englands - again

LAKEVILLE — Nearly a decade of dominance continued as The Hotchkiss School field hockey team won its ninth consecutive New England title, defeating Greenwich Academy 2-1 on Sunday, Nov. 21.

Despite recording a dominant 17-0 undefeated season, the Bearcats needed the narrowest of margins to win this championship, winning both weekend games in overtime and needing penalty strokes to win the final game.

On Saturday, Hotchkiss and Andover played to a scoreless tie in regulation, leading to a 10-minute overtime of seven-on-seven play. Co-captain Catherine Fowler scored the winning goal at 2:46 off a penalty corner with a shot from the right side.

Sunday’s final against Greenwich would prove even more nail-biting, as 80 minutes of play would still not decide the champion. The Bearcats found themselves in the unfamiliar position of playing from behind, as GA recorded an opening goal less than one minute into the game. Despite out-cornering the Gators 12-1 in the second half, Hotchkiss was unable to record a goal until the 43-minute mark, when Carly Bennett scored on a pass from Shannon Cherpak.

Neither overtime period produced any goals, so the match was decided by penalty strokes. Hotchkiss scored first on a shot by co-captain Claire Yackery, and Greenwich missed its first shot. Both teams made their second shots, missed their third shots and then made their fourth shots, giving Hotchkiss a 3-2 lead entering the final shot. Stephanie Mock missed her shot for Hotchkiss, but goalie Kelsie Fralick made a save on the final shot to preserve the victory.

In other weekend results, the boys soccer team lost its semifinal match at home to Kent 2-4 (see story, Page A11), and the volleyball team beat Taft 3-0 in the semifinals and then lost 0-3 to Andover in the finals.

The volleyball team made their fourth consecutive trip to the New England finals, losing 0-3 in the finals to Andover. The Big Blue avenged their only loss this season, a 0-3 defeat to Hotchkiss in the opening match of the season on Sept. 18. Andover won its next 14 matches, including the sweep of the Bearcats in the championship.

Although they lost the first game 25-15, Hotchkiss had an excellent chance in the second game, serving game point at 24-22. Andover called time-out and managed to score the next four points to win the second game 26-24. The Big Blue controlled the third game, winning 25-17 to take the title.

Roger Wistar is the sports information director at The Hotchkiss School.