Caught in a Storm

Lightening Put an Early End to Overtime and Left Edison and South County’s Field Hockey Teams Locked in a 1-1 Tie

What had been a tightly-contested and well-played match between
Edison and host South County ended in anti-climatic
fashion Monday night when rain — and lightening — forced Stallions’
Coach Leah Conte and Eagles’ Coach Ginger White Robertson to agree to
have the game end in a draw.

“We’d rather stay and play,” said a disappointed Megan Wears, South County’s standout sophomore forward. “We came out really strong for overtime, so we were ready. We wanted the win.”

But when the lightening had not subsided by about 9:15 p.m., meaning it would be at least 9:45 until the teams would even be allowed to return to the field, the coaches and officials jointly decided to call it a night. The two teams finished locked in a 1-1 tie with 9 minutes, 14 seconds still left in the first sudden-death overtime period. South County, which got excellent defensive play by freshman speedster Erica Binzer and sophomore Caitlyn Kost and great stick work from junior forwards Megan Rea and Tierney Smith, nearly escaped with the win in regulation. The Stallions took the lead with 6:44 remaining on a goal by Wears, who took a beautiful feed from senior forward Sarah Shiflette on the right side of the goal and knocked it in. “Oh, she played it perfectly and slid it through two defenders,” Wears said of Shiflette. “And I was able to tip it in.” But Edison countered with just 2:08 to play when junior Julia Fiorio brought the ball up the right side of the field and fired a beautiful pass to senior Nancy Norman right in front of the goal to knot the score. “I wasn’t playing very well so I had been in-and-out of the game,” said Norman, who like many players seemed to have difficulty handling the oppressive humidity that hung in the air throughout the first half. “So I knew I needed to step it up. I saw Julia coming all the way up the field and she got it to me so quick I’m not sure anyone really knew what happened. “I think I was jumping up and down celebrating before any even realized it had gone in.”

South County senior Maddie Bradsher talks strategy during pre-game with Coach Leah Conte.

Fiorio was the Eagles’ stopper a year ago, but the graduation of nine seniors from that squad forced White Robertson to make changes to her lineup. And with senior All-Met sweeper Tara White returning plus the addition of tough senior defender Mara Yothers, White Robertson said she felt comfortable moving Fiorio up.

“Our defense has held up okay so I decided to try something different with Julia and move her up to center forward,” explained White Robertson, who also got excellent stick work from Norman and senior center link Alyssa Tullar. “And it worked. She just carried the ball beautifully up the field and found Nancy, who was in the right place at the right time. And a lot of the time, that’s all it takes.”

Norman and South County senior Kelly McConnell each got a good look at a shot-on-goal in the overtime session before officials caught sight of the lightening and sent the teams into the school building for their safety.

All three of the Stallions’ regular-season games have gone to overtime, and it’s an even split: one win, one loss, one tie. The Eagles’ record similarly stands at 2-1-1.

“We were ready to fight all the way to the end,” Wears said. “And I’m sure they were, too. We’ve played them before and it’s always a tough match. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be tonight.”