Hockey

Villa Maria field hockey coach Maurene Polley was visibly upset on Saturday after her team's 1-0 loss to Crestwood in the PIAA Class AA final. Polley felt that her team had not stepped up and that not everyone had done the job that was necessary to win the game. "You've got to play big in big games," she repeated several times throughout postgame interviews in Whitehall as Crestwood celebrated nearby. A relatively young Villa Maria team surprised a lot of people and even itself this season after losing many key players to graduation, but it did not play up to Polley's expectations in the final.

Eastern captured its 14th consecutive Group 4 field hockey championship Sunday with a dominant 9-2 victory over Bridgewater-Raritan at the College of New Jersey. The Vikings might have sealed the title run by bonding at pasta parties throughout the season. "This team is your family," said Karlee Spirit, who scored a pair of goals. "I wouldn't want to share this with anybody else. " "Our biggest thing this year was 'We are family,' " said Emma Johansson, who scored twice. "There's not one person I don't love on this team.

Top-seeded Bishop Eustace leaned on its upperclassmen in Wednesday afternoon's 9-0 win over No. 2 Delran in the Central Jersey Group 2 field hockey final. Three players scored - junior Lauren Crudele and seniors Montana Flemming, and Kelly Quinn - and each recorded a hat trick. The host Crusaders had last come out of the group in 2010. South Jersey Group 1. Emily DeMarco scored and set up both Marielena Dottoli goals as top-seeded St. Joseph blanked second-seeded Glassboro, 3-0, in the final.

The diving goaltender proved to be no more than a slight distraction as Caroline Mackrides calmly dribbled around the goalie's outstretched arms and buried the game-winning goal into the net. Her teammates quickly swarmed Tuesday as the Villa Maria forward lifted the Hurricanes to a 1-0, overtime win over Donegal (19-5-1) in the PIAA Class AA field hockey semifinals at Exeter. But the celebration was short-lived. After all, Mackrides is just a sophomore. "I need all the sophomores to move the equipment from here to there," Villa coach Maurene Polley said as she pointed from the sideline to the fence a few feet away.

The Inter-Ac field hockey cochampions remained on track for a potential third meeting in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Tournament as Notre Dame and Episcopal Academy each won on Monday. Notre Dame advanced to the final by beating visiting Hill School, 6-2. The second-seeded Irish (21-1) scored four goals in the second half to beat back a challenge from the third-seeded Blues. Moira Putsch scored twice and added an assist. Emily Faught had two goals and Maggie Fitzgerald and Taylor Leonhardt each added one. Notre Dame, the defending tournament champion, awaits the winner between Episcopal and Agnes Irwin, which meet Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Episcopal.

When junior Megan Parsons won her third District 1 title in as many years two weeks ago, she knew she had a lot of playing time left on the schedule. It was a goal of Parsons' and the rest of the Villa Maria field hockey squad to finish better than they did last season, and that means winning the Class AA state title. The Hurricanes got one step closer Saturday with a convincing 5-1 win over Wyoming Seminary. The Knights were the team that kept Villa Maria from winning last season's crown.

West Chester scored three first-half goals and two in the second Sunday on the way to a 5-0 rout of host UMass-Lowell to win the Division II Field Hockey title. West Chester (20-2) claimed its second straight NCAA title and sixth national championship in program history. West Chester's titles the last 2 years have come at the expense of UMass-Lowell (19-4), who was making its sixth straight appearance in the national title game.  

LOWELL, Mass. - Top-ranked West Chester scored three goals in the first half and two more in the second and successfully defended its NCAA Division II field hockey championship with a 5-0 shutout of host UMass-Lowell Sunday at Cushing Field. West Chester (20-2) tied the school record for wins in a season while securing its second straight NCAA title and the sixth national championship in program history. Both of West Chester's titles in the last two years have come at the expense of UMass-Lowell (19-4)