Field hockey: Redwood caps unbeaten season with a pennant
The Redwood High field hockey team was undefeated against MCAL foes last season, but the Giants never had the chance to hoist a pennant. On Friday, they made up for it.
The Giants (15-0-1) shut down visiting Lick-Wilmerding, 3-0, in the MCAL championship to win their second title since 2019. The league did not have a title game last season, so there is a painful gap in the Giants’ run of titles.
“This one was special, because we got all the seniors in the game,” Redwood head coach Jen Reidy said, with coach Aline Copp in agreement.
For senior Cassady Haan, there was no better way to cap off her field hockey career than with a title — and a goal. She scored the first goal five minutes into the game, with an assist from her sister, Sammy Haan.
“This title definitely means a lot because this is our last game and this might be my last time playing field hockey, and the same for some of the other seniors,” said Cassady Haan. “It’s so sad, but also really awesome because I was really confident in our team and we won… It’s a really good memory to end it all here like this.”
The Haan sisters and the Minturn sisters — Megan and Grace — were at the center of the action the entire afternoon, just as they have been all season. Sammy Haan also scored, with an assist from Megan Minturn, to give the Giants a 2-0 lead with 1:50 left before halftime.
Sammy Haan wasn’t done yet, assisting on the final goal of the game, a shot across the front of the net and into the back of the net for a 3-0 lead with 5:25 left in the game.
“We’ve been playing really hard and trying really hard the whole season,” Sammy Haan said. “Our main goal was to get here and to have a good time while getting here. We all feel like we fulfilled that goal and we’re so happy that we’ve been such great friends the whole time through.”
The Giants faced a powerful Lick-Wilmerding squad in a physical contest. Redwood’s well-paced strategy was enough to keep the Tigers (6-4-2) on the defensive most of the game.
“I think everyone was really determined and we were all just so excited to play so hard because we all love each other so much,” Sammy Haan said. “We know it was our last team together with this group of seniors and we were all just so excited.”
Redwood, which reportedly surrendered only one goal all season, defeated Lick-Wilmerding, 2-0, in their previous meeting this season.
“A blessing and also a challenge, I would say, is we racked up a lot of goals at the beginning of the season,” Reidy said. “We knew we clearly had something special right out of the gate.”
The challenge, according to Reidy, was “making sure your team doesn’t get overconfident and keeps playing their best and keeps pushing themselves to learn and grown. Ultimately, they did just that. They played their best.”
The next challenge will be to defend Redwood’s MCAL pennant. There is currently no playoff tournament for field hockey in the North Coast Section, so this game wraps up the season.
“These girls are very mentally tough, going through COVID and coming closer together,” Reidy said. “We call ourselves a competitive sisterhood. It’s about women supporting women and challenging each other to be the best versions of ourselves. I think they just keep getting better and better.”