Field hockey: Redwood claims fifth consecutive MCAL crown
Will someone please send the Redwood High field hockey team a North Coast Section pennant?
The Giants won their fifth straight MCAL championship on Friday with an exhausting, yet exhilarating 3-2 shootout thriller against University at Marin Catholic. Redwood (18-2-4) concludes the season ranked No. 1 in NCS and No. 14 in the state, according to MaxPreps.com.
It’s not the Giants’ fault that there’s no more postseason for them to dominate like other sports enjoy. No NCS, no Northern California tournament, and no state for field hockey.
“We want NCS really badly,” said Redwood co-coach Aline Copp. “We’ve been trying to get it. We have played teams in the South Bay this year. We beat Gilroy which is ranked Top 10. We are as good as these teams. We need to be playing postseason play.”
Considering how hard-fought their season-ending win was on Friday, the Giants probably need a little recovery time anyway.
The game was tied 0-0 after four 15-minute quarters. The score remained scoreless after the next two 10-minute overtime periods in which only seven players took the field for each team instead of 11. Then came the one-on-one shootout.
The Giants and Red Devils (17-5-5) received stellar play from their goalies during the first round of the shootout, which ended tied at 1-1. Lucy Jeffers gave the Giants a brief 1-0 lead when she pulled University’s Live Colley wide left, got around her to dribble down the end line and then scored.
But University’s Dylan Dodson tied the game on the next one-on-one opportunity when Redwood goalie Caroline Muller dove for the ball and made contact only to have the ball trickle into the goal.
After the first five one-on-ones, next came sudden death one-on-ones. Redwood senior Sammy Haan scored on the Giants’ first try, pulling Colley left with a fake, then going right to open a wide hole for a 2-1 Redwood edge.
University refused to yield, getting a goal from Annabelle VanderMarck to knot the score at 2-2.
Jeffers went second for Redwood this time and dribbled right at the University goalie, catching her off guard and pushing the ball through her for a 3-2 lead.
Redwood’s Muller fended off University’s second effort in sudden death to seal yet another league title for the Giants.
“What an ending,” said Copp. “Incredible. Those girls had nothing left. They left everything on the field.”
Copp said Muller deserved to be player of the game, holding the Red Devils scoreless in regulation and overtime. No one should be surprised: After the Giants lost 1-0 to University back on Sept. 18, they went 14 straight games without giving up a goal until their 2-1 win over Tam in the MCAL semifinals.
The Giants’ nine seniors, including Muller and Haan, went their entire high school careers winning their final game of the season even if they never advanced to NCS.
“It feels amazing,” said Haan. “It’s something that I worked hard for all four years playing field hockey on varsity. I’m honestly really proud of how our team worked together.”