As I sat in the stands at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium watching seconds tick off the clock, I couldn’t help but empathize with Emmaus goalkeeper Emily Romano and Parkland keeper Audrina Stewart. It was as tight a match as could be and on the line was an EPC championship. For the Hornets, it would be their 44th conference championship and their 12th consecutive. For the Trojans, upsetting Emmaus to win an EPC championship would be historic.
Romano and Stewart, both senior captains, are committed to play in college–Romano at Division I Monmouth and Stewart at Division III Christopher Newport. They have both had stellar senior campaigns thus far, with Romano surrendering just six goals and recording 14 shutouts during the regular season and Stewart just eleven goals and with ten shutouts.
I can imagine how they were both feeling as the scoreless regulation period wound down into the first overtime period. And then as the first overtime period – still scoreless – turned into the second overtime period, with both goalkeepers keeping their opponent off the board.
As a former goalkeeper myself, I’ve been there. My own high school career ended in penalty strokes in the first round of the PIAA state championship my senior year. I can still remember that cold November night at Whitehall. I recall my team advancing from regulation to the first overtime period and then to the second. And the realization that, as each second passed, it was getting closer and closer to coming down to me.
I can also recall during my college career taking then #9 nationally ranked Boston University through two overtimes and ultimately upsetting them in a shootout (you win some, you lose some, I guess!). I can still remember the sense of excitement and nerves that built up as each period passed in those games.
It’s a helpless feeling in a sense. You’re contained to your defensive circle and doing all you can to somehow will your teammates in front of you to find the back of the net. At the same time, you know that making a mistake at this point will cost you the game and the title. You’re doing the mental gymnastics of urging your team to advance and push forward to hopefully create a scoring opportunity, while at the same time wanting to keep your team in a strong defensive structure to avoid a counter-attack.
And as the seconds tick by, you realize that it may come down to you.
No pressure, right?
Now, thankfully PIAA field hockey has moved away from penalty strokes, which were similar in nature to a penalty kick in soccer with an attacker taking an uncontested shot from a set point in front of the keeper. After two scoreless overtime periods, the game now goes to shootouts which resemble a shootout in ice hockey. Each team selects five attackers who will each take on the opposing team’s goalkeeper. The goalkeeper starts on their goal line and the attacker starts on the 25-yard line. When the referees blows the whistle, the attacker has eight seconds to dribble into the circle and attempt to score. The goalkeeper can leave their goal line and try to stop the attacker (or hang back and make a save, if they so choose). It’s significantly more dynamic (and exciting, if you ask me) than stationary penalty strokes.
Both Romano and Stewart had played 80-minutes of phenomenal shutout goalkeeping behind strong defensive performances by the Hornets and Trojans, thwarting several attacking opportunities during regulation and two ten-minute overtime periods.
When those 80 minutes wrapped, it was up to Romano and Stewart and the attackers selected from each team. Both goalkeepers rose to the challenge. They showed confidence and played aggressively, putting their bodies on the line and coming out of their cage to challenge each attacker.
The quick and talented stick skills of the Emmaus attackers proved to be a challenge for Stewart, with four of their five attackers finding the back of the net during the shootout period. On the other side, the Parkland attackers managed to sneak two shootout goals past Romano despite her showing remarkable technical skill and athleticism.
Ultimately, it was Emmaus star and EPC MVP Madi Lenig who would win it for the Hornets, netting Emmaus’s fourth shootout goal and bringing home the Hornets’ 12th consecutive EPC championship.
While both Emmaus and Parkland will advance and perhaps see each other for a third time in the District XI playoff next week (and what a match up that would be!), I suspect this will be a game that neither team will forget.
For Romano and Stewart in particular, I know from experience that even years in the future they’ll look back on this game and be able to recall the excitement, the nerves, and the pressure they felt and be proud of how they had the courage to dig deep and give their all for their team.
I couldn’t help but notice that when the shootout concluded, both teams ran immediately to embrace their goalkeeper. A job well done, indeed.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound or any other agency, organization, employer or company.
