by TOM UTESCHER

Mount St. Joseph Academy wrapped up play in the PIAA District One field hockey tournament last week, following up a 4-1 semifinal loss to number four Wissahickon High School with a 1-0 victory over seventh-seeded Council Rock North on Friday afternoon. The Magic (15-6-1) entered the area tournament ranked eighth, but will now move on into the Triple-A state tournament this week as the third seed from District One.

In the last two games the locals encountered contrasting weather and field conditions, going from a chilly gathering on saturated "Sprint Turf" at Radnor High School on Wednesday to a balmy outing on the grass pitch at Neshaminy two days later.

Wissahickon came into Wednesday's semifinal against the Mount boasting an 18-2-1 record and a deserved reputation as a scoring dynamo. Freshman Katie O'Donnell (a member of the U.S. Under-16 Team) and junior Courtney Linde had amassed more than 60 goals between them, and lanky senior Marci Burns could deliver a monster drive. The Trojans were fast and, more important, had the skills to dribble the ball at close to top speed.

Many of the players from the two squads knew one another, from living in close proximity and playing in club programs together. Wissahickon knew to keep an eye on MSJ's Sarah Reinprecht, herself a former U.S. U-16 player.

"We wanted to keep it away from Sarah," emphasized head coach Lucy Gil, who just took over the Trojans this year after relocating from northern New Jersey. "We didn't do a very good job; she was all over the field and she played great. She took like ten shots in a row here at the end that were just amazing."

After their third corner hit of the game, about three-and-a-half minutes in, the Trojans took the early lead over the Mount as Burns connected off of an assist by Chelsea Rosiek.

At the other end, the Mount's Jamie Calahan just missed getting off a close range shot in the circle, and Jess Mulhern made surprisingly good headway on a one-on-four break but was eventually swarmed under. Just after that, with 17:10 to go in the half, the Magic tied the match with what would be their lone goal of the afternoon. Katie Burke hit the ball out on a corner and Reinprecht drove it back down to her at the left post. Burke stopped the ball and popped it into the cage.

Wissahickon went back on the offensive and moved ahead again with 11:12 on the clock. O'Donnell was allowed to receive a pass from midfield just outside of the circle on the right. She deftly guided the ball across the circle to the left and lifted a shot into the Mount goal. The count was still just 2-1 at halftime, but the Trojans had a 13-3 advantage in corners.

"We knew we had to be patient," commented Mount co-coach Tina Reinprecht. "We didn't want to spread the field against them attackwise because their counter is so strong that we would be spread a little bit thin. So we had to work the ball up slowly, maybe get a free hit at midfield, and play a half-field game."

The Magic stayed one goal back until the middle of the second half, but Wissahickon kept dialing up the offensive pressure. With 15:36 to go the Trojans put in their third goal. A corner hit went off the stick of Burns up top and rolled to the left for O'Donnell, who shot her second of the day. At 9:50 Burns made a second strike of her own, receiving yet another corner hit (the final total was 23-6) and executing a textbook pull-dodge to free herself for the shot.

Gil said that her team has learned "We need to go out there and play our offensive game. Every time we try to go out and get inside the head of the other team, it doesn't work for us."

MSJ's Reinprecht got off a number of solid shots for near misses, mostly just wide to the left. Mount goalie Liz Trinkle, who chalked up nine saves in the game, made the last one by performing a sort of soccer slide-tackle to clear the ball out of the goalmouth.

Mount co-coach Lois Weber reflected "We had some nice penetration towards the end of the game. Wissahickon is blessed with speed, and that's one of our challenges. They also have talented sticks, and they played a really strong game."

Friday's foes, the Council Rock Indians (16-5-3) were just as aggressive, but not as skilled. Each side took a few cracks at the other in the initial phase of the game, then the Mount was granted back-to-back corners as the clock clicked down towards 16 minutes.

On Burke's hit out from the left endline the ball took a little hop before reaching Reinprecht. The Mount middie was still able to steady the ball, draw it away from a defender, and sling a shot into the cage. The goal went into the books with 16:15 remaining in the first half, and it would be the only one of the game.

The Magic had several chances to pad their lead during the next 56 six minutes, but more often they were back in their defensive end circling the wagons against the Indians. Mount fans gasped as players piled up in front of the Magic goal on a rush at the start of the second half, and ten minutes in a Rock shot off of a corner skipped past the right post.

"We kind of got away from our plan," MSJ's Weber acknowledged later. "We were constantly feeding them in the second half. We weren't able to swing the ball over to our strong side, and that's why they constantly had pressure on us."

On a Mount corner, Reinprecht almost got off another clean shot, but the ball was swept away by a back during her wind-up. Sophomore Meg Maginnis, who spent much of the season playing with the JV, made some waves coming off of the Magic's bench. She even had a near miss on the right with about ten minutes left in the game.

Council Rock called time-out with 6:04 remaining, but when play resumed the Mount seemed to grow stronger, not allowing the Indians such easy access to the circle. Finally, the last seconds drained away and the Mount officially secured the third seed in the district. MSJ's Trinkle had eight saves for the shutout.

"I've got to give [Council Rock] credit, because they never let up," said Tina Reinprecht. "Alex Meis did a good job for us when they kept coming down our left side, and Nina and Sarah did a good job and Trink played well in goal. It was a very good game for us in terms of having to show some toughness, because in States every game is do-or-die."