Stuart, Lawrenceville tie for field hockey title
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The prep field hockey championship ended with a compromise, a 2-2 tie between Stuart Country Day and The Lawrenceville School after regulation and two overtimes Sunday at Stuart.
Sharing a state crown was satisfying for the Tartans, who had lost in the last two state finals matchups against the Big Red.
”I’ll take a tie over a loss any day,” said Jenae Harrington, one of the Tartans eight seniors who finish their careers with a 19-1-3 record. “I would have taken a win, but it still feels good. We should have won, but it still feels good.”
Stuart scored first on a penalty stroke by Jackie Gaudioso Radvany, but less than five minutes later, Lawrenceville tied it for a 1-1 halftime score. Gaudioso Radvany scored her second goal of the game with 7:29 left in regulation on a corner.
”I shot it in, felt it go in,” said the Stuart junior. “I heard the backboard. It was a great feeling.”
Her initial shot knocked the stick out of Big Red defender Caroline Dittrich’s hands, but no one stopped her bullet of a shot on the rebound. Almost five minutes later, Lawrenceville got the equalizer when officials ruled that Lindsay Becker had touched a long shot into the circle before it went in off the Stuart goalie. It was Becker’s second goal of the game.
”It feels like a win because that second goal, I honestly don’t think it was a goal,” said Harrington, a defender for the Tartans. “Our goalie’s pads hit her other pads, but no one touched it.
”The overtimes, we definitely dominated. I’m proud. We pulled it out. We may not have scored more than them, but we didn’t let them score more than us.”
The state crown was their first since as freshmen they captured the Prep B title. In 2002, Stuart won the prep championship.
”I’m so happy and proud of them,” said Stuart head coach Katie Grant, “but at the same time, you kind of want to know it’s yours. When you have two teams like this, rivals, I think it’s hard to share something like championship.”
Neither team could score in overtime. The Tartans played the final three minutes with a one-player advantage. They had their best chance to win it seconds later when Gaudioso Radvany blasted another corner that Dittrich knocked down at thigh level.
”I thought that was in,” Gaudioso Radvany said.
”If I didn’t block that shot, I think it would have gone in,” Dittrich said. “It’s a good thing I got it. I just didn’t want them to win. They didn’t, so I’m happy.”
Lawrenceville also felt it had accomplished plenty after Stuart had won the regular-season meeting this year. It was the fifth straight prep title for the Big Red.
”I can see why they think they’re the underdog just because we’d won the past four years,” said Dittrich, a Princeton Junction resident. “But ranking wise, especially since they beat us, we’re the underdog.”
Six Packet-area players shared in Lawrenceville’s latest crown as they improved to 9-5-2. Princeton residents Becky Mantell and Payson Sword are team captains and fellow Princeton resident Emily Doll is a member of the Big Red. Skillman residents Katharine Sharpstone was part of the Lawrenceville defense while Rebecca Hu was strong in the midfield. Dittrich was responsible for trying to keep track of Gaudioso Radvany.
”I’m completely happy,” said Dittrich, a junior who also plays softball for Lawrenceville. “We didn’t lose and that’s all I was worried about. We tied. It’s not a win, but it’s a lot better than a loss. It’s our fifth year in a row. Hopefully we’ll have another shot next year to make it No. 6.”
No one would be surprised to see a rematch. Both teams proved to be the top of the state with their play Sunday.
”We did score early, but we were kind of in agreement that they were dominating us,” Grant said. “We picked it up the second half and started to play more together. That’s our mentality. Just kind of play as a team, back each other up, go together, go in numbers. Once we got into that in the second half of the second half and overtime, we were very dominant.
”I thought that we had some decent opportunities just in the offensive 25,” she added. “We just couldn’t get quality opportunities once we got in the circle. We were getting there, getting the ball where it needs to be, but couldn’t get one. We definitely pressured them.”
The end-to-end play had the large crowd enthralled with the action Sunday. And even though both teams would have rather come away with a win, leaving the outcome as a tie did not detract from the quality of the contest.
”It’s definitely a good game,” Harrington said. “That’s why there are so many people out here. It’s such a good game to see. There was so much talent on the field, but I think we were the better team.”
Harrington was out for the first meeting of the season with Lawrenceville. As a senior, she wanted one more chance at them for a state championship.
”In the beginning, I was a little apprehensive because we lost some pretty good offensive players last year,” Harrington said. “As the season progressed, our offense got stronger and I had total faith in our defense. I definitely envisioned the championship game.
”I was dreaming about it. I definitely saw it differently. I saw (a win), but seeing things is different from doing it. You have to get it done.”
Stuart will have try to get it done again next year, though it will have to do so without its eight seniors. They were part of the first combined prep state championship in six years.
”I’m going to miss them,” Grant said. “There are a lot that stepped up and played almost the whole game. I’m so proud of them. I love them both on and off the field. They’re great people. I’ve seen them grow so much over the course of the season. I feel like they’ve surprised themselves with how much they accomplished. We have three captains, but all eight of them were leaders. They did their part to lead us to where we were today.”