by TOM UTESCHER

Germantown Friends claimed its third straight Friends School League field hockey championship on October 28, when senior Annie Blood's penalty stroke in overtime gave the second-seeded Tigers a 2-1 decision over top-ranked host Academy of the New Church.

Germantown had knocked off the ANC Lions in the 2001 title game; last year the Tigers defeated George School to earn the league laurels. Both GFS and ANC finished the 2003 regular season undefeated in league play, but a slightly better record earned New Church (5-0-1) the top playoff seed over the Tigers (4-0-2). In the semifinal round this year, Germantown (8-6-3 overall) eliminated Moorestown Friends, 3-1, while ANC (11-4-1) advanced on the other side of the bracket with a 1-0 win over Westtown.

GFS graduated a talented class of athletes last spring, and some critics felt the Tigers would not be able to capture the championship for a third consecutive year.

"They were getting a lot of naysayers who told them 'You guys aren't as good as last year's team, and you were only good because you had so and so'," related GFS coach Jackie Metz. "They sort of let that haunt them at the beginning of the season, and that's also when we were playing some tough non-league games."

A 4-0 loss at Germantown Academy on October 15 was a turning point, the coach recalled.

"It was a good kick in the butt to make us realize that we had to step up and play better hockey if we wanted to win the league. Then in our last three games in the regular season [all FSL contests], we outscored the other teams 12-0."

Heading into a rematch with ANC, Metz said she knew that the Lions' Nicole Wille would pose a threat on the left wing. Wille would not be heard from often in the championship match, though, as she was cloaked by Germantown's Kasey Kaufman.

The finalists had played to a 0-0 tie in their regular season game, but at their reunion in the finals Germantown got on the board less than a dozen minutes into the match. Kate McCoubrey's drive from near the top of the circle set up the goal. Scorer Simone Zuares said, "The ball bounced off of the goalie's pads and I just went around her and put it in."

A little later, with 15:22 left in the half, ANC called time-out, and the Lions returned to the field to earn several corners in the offensive end. Germantown countered and with under five minutes left, and Crista Cooper of New Church had to sweep the ball off of her own goal line to prevent a second GFS score. In the final minute the hosts penetrated the Germantown circle, but an effective clearing kick by Tigers' goalie Leigh Gerson (six saves total) left GFS still holding a 1-0 edge at the interlude.

Zuares, a senior from Chestnut Hill, said that coming into the game "We knew they were a large team - most of them were towering over us. They tried to push us around a little bit, but it didn't work. We used our stick skills to dodge right around them and keep going."

The host club came on strong at the start of the second round and was awarded several corner hits. They notched the tying goal with 5:23 elapsed. Connie Zimmer got off a shot from the middle of a crowd in front of the left post and the ball rolled across the line, barely eluding the outstretched stick of Germantown's Kate McDonald.

With ten minutes left in the trailing half, GFS fans thought they might have a call coming when the ball popped up into the air off of a New Church stick in the circle, but the ref's whistle was silent. Later, Zuares made a run through the middle with the ball, but Cooper saved the Lions again, deflecting the ball out of bounds near the goal cage. Overtime ensued.

GFS had played four overtime games already this fall, but had emerged with either a tie or a loss in each case.

Zuares related that at the end of regulation in the final match, "We said 'This is it; this is our time to pull through.' "

GFS took the play right to the hosts as the ten-minute OT began, and as ANC tried to stop Zuares dribbling through the circle, an intentional foul was called on the Lions. The Tigers set up for a penalty stroke just 20 seconds into the extension. Taking her first stroke of the season, Blood placed the ball waist high on the left, and it popped up off of the keeper's pads and went in off of the goalframe.

This was not a sudden death overtime, and Germantown would have to protect its lead for more than nine-and-a-half minutes to clinch the title. The Lions mounted several attacks, but none as threatening as their best rushes during regulation play.

One of the stars of the seven-on-seven was GFS sweep Marisa Williamson, who cleaned up everything in the back for the Tigers and broke up a number of potential rushes by ANC before they properly began. Metz subbed in sophomore Sarah Feldman to give the Tigers a fresh spark, and down the stretch GFS spent most of the time attacking rather than just clinging to its lead.

"I think senior leadership made the difference for us," Metz summed up. "Our six seniors [Blood, Gerson, Kaufman, McDonald, Williamson and Zuares] stepped up and played their best game of the season."