High School Field Hockey:
Eastern Finally Gets Past Shawnee In Playoffs

Wednesday, November 17, 1999

By Vincent Lewis
SJSports Staff Writer

If you first don't succeed, well, you know the rest of the saying. That's what the Eastern field hockey team was determined to do, finally defeat their nemesis, the Shawnee Renegades. These two teams faced off at Highland High School in a Group 4 state semifinal game. It was Sarah Dawson's determination that scored the winning goal in overtime to advance Eastern into the finals. Dawson's goal with 44-seconds remaining in overtime not only won the game for the Vikings, but also was a birthday gift to herself.

This was one of those games where two good teams were very patient with their game plan. They both did not make mental mistakes that would give their opponent an opportunity to score an easy goal. The defenses were playing an excellent game during this cold and windy fall afternoon. The Vikings' were sporting a statistic of keeping their opponents off the scoreboard for twelve games. Each team had little chances putting a shot on goal. It seemed that these same two teams were repeating the same pattern the last time they met. That game ended in a one all tie.

Eventually, one of these excellent teams had to win. As the clock ran out during the end of regulation, the Vikings finally took advantage of the few good scoring chances the stingy Renegades' defense would allow. Dawson got a chance against goalie Becky Stanchina. After an initial save by Stanchina, a determined Dawson finally got the shot into the goal to advance Eastern to the finals against Phillipsburg.

Photos by Art Redd