Pawling Field Hockey challenges every year for the sectional title
Tigers fall at Bronxville in semi-final for second year.
By John M. Benson
November 1, 2007
The Pawling field hockey team is as good as any team in Section I year and year out, and this 2007 Tiger is no exception. On any given day, the Tigers can beat anyone in the section.
Just three years ago, coach June Lagan and her Pawling Tigers went all the way to the State Final Four, and for the past two years, the Tigers have been within one game of the Section One Final.
Pawling has won the quarterfinal game two years in a row, over Croton in 2006 and over Valhalla in 2007, and each year, the season has ended at Bronxville in the semi-finals.
Pawling lost 3-1 at Bronxville on November 1, but the Tigers were playing like winners right to the end.
Sam Baughman played an outstanding game for Pawling in goal, replacing injured senior starter Becky McKinney. Bronxville scored only one goal in the first half, when they flooded the zone on a penalty corner. In the second half, when Pawling was pressing their offense to get the tying goal, the Tigers got caught up-field twice and allowed two breakaways that were impossible to stop and resulted in two goals for the Broncos.
Midway through the second half, Sam Jorgensen won the ball in the midfield line and raced up the center of the field through the Bronxville defense. Ariana Hamner joined her at about the 30-yard line, and the two super-fast Tigers played give and go all the way into the circle. When the keeper came out from the goal, Hamner and Jorgensen stormed by her, with Hamner finishing off the charge with the goal.
The score was then 3-1.
Just a few minutes later, Alex Petti, Jen Rabe, Kallen Maguire, Sarah Apple, Hamner and Jorgensen forced the melee in front of the goal, with Petti stroking the ball into the cage. But the referee had awarded a penalty corner to Pawling just as Petti released her shot, thus dis-allowing the goal, and the Tigers were left to wonder why they couldn’t have been allowed to play out the advantage.
That goal would have made it 3-2, and the Tigers would have had time to work more of their magic, but it was not to be on this final day of the 2007 season for Pawling.
This has been another great season for coach June Lagan and the Pawling Tigers, led by seniors Rebecca McKinney, Sarah Apple, Jen Rabe, Ariana Hamner, Alex Petti, Nora Johnston and Kallen Maguire.
With continuing dedication, outstanding returning players, and a treasure trove of talent rising up from the junior varsity and modified teams, Pawling will certainly challenge for the title every year, and the Tigers will soon work their way back to the State Final Four.
The full expanded roster for the sectional playoffs:
Rebecca McKinney, Sarah Apple, Jen Rabe, Ariana Hamner, Alex Petti, Nora Johnston, Kallen Maguire, Jen Bellucci, Caitlin Reynolds, Tara Smith, Jamie Mascarenhas, Marisa Kaplan, Sam Baughman, Monique Lamond, Claire Olson, Sam Jorgensen, Zoe Nagasing, Emily Coursen, Hannah McGrath and Aubrey Dakin. |
