Delaware Club Field Hockey repeats as national champions
Tired time - I think when November rolls around, some young men who play high school football are tired of playing football. Basketball players, grapplers and indoor track performers are ready to transition to indoor sports while other guys just want to go home after school. Making the playoffs requires refocusing and re-energizing, and no matter how many times you tell certain players, “This is the most important game at this school in the last 14 years,” for some their internal thermometer has popped like a fully cooked tom turkey. That is part of what I sensed last Friday night at Saint Mark’s, some players going through the motions. I didn’t feel the energy and speed of a midseason game. And as a “trusted reporter” in postgame time, it’s one story if I bring out the recorder but the real deal insider "stuff-it," - I just keep my hands inside my empty pockets. I know there was general disappointment from Cape to take a quarter to fully show up, get behind 14-0 and leave two scoring chances on the field in the second period; Saint Mark’s was also disappointed in their effort for most of the ballgame.
Celebration time - The North Carolina field hockey team lost to Princeton 3-2 in the NCAA championship game Nov. 18 in front of 1,100 fans at ODU. It was Princeton’s first title in the sport and the third year in a row the Tar Heels have lost in the finals. Delmar’s field hockey has lost to Cape in the finals two years in a row. The Cats return their entire team for next season. Delmar has posted a 34-4 record over two years, all four losses coming to Cape. The Vikings with only three returning starters on this year's team return seven for next season. I still think hanging around to receive the second-place trophy is a moment to be avoided - it's just too much to ask of a team that has just suffered such a disappointment.
Delaware Club Field Hockey - The University of Delaware Club Field Hockey team with Kara Voss as student president won the national club championship for the second year in a row Nov. 18 at Virginia Wesleyan University. Club teams are allowed to have two male players. Kara can be seen in the center of the photo holding the team trophy. Top left are Gina Voss and Teenie Bristowe; in front of them is Veronica D’Amico; they are all former Cape players. There were 16 teams in the tournament including Duke, North Carolina, Temple, Northwestern, Penn State and Virginia Tech. Delaware beat UVA in the final 2-1. The Blue Hens beat Virginia Tech 1-0 in the quarterfinal and Northeastern in the semifinal 2-0. Veronica D'Amico shared the goaltending duties with Sarah Werkheiser, former Caravel goalie. Bristowe, Kara Voss and Gina Voss were defenders.
Snippets - Brian Billick commenting on the 4-6 Redskins: “You have to play like you're still in it as long as you’re not out of it.” Dan Dierdorf working the Dallas game: “They have been running that play since the dawn of time in the NFL.” And people have the nerve to ask me what I’m talking about?
The Cape Crusaders basketball program is asking that local fat cats like us to donate gently used winter clothing, new or seldom-used toys and canned or dry food items and bring them to Cape gym Sunday afternoon, Dec. 2. The Crusaders will be hosting a Dec. 22 holiday party for 75 underprivileged youth.
The Mariner National Junior Honor Society has adopted Public School 50 on Staten Island, a preK-5 school. You can drop off children’s board games, puzzles, books, backpacks and general school supplies. Or you can buy yourself an iPad mini. Peggy Draper McDaniel is your Mariner contact.
I clicked a photo of a hairy- headed, bearded runner at the Nov. 18 rescheduled running of the Sea Witch 5K and thought it was Gen. David Petraeus’s unemployed social secretary, only to discover it was man of many disguises Jack Vassalotti running as Forrest Gump. I also liked Blake Hundley’s Green Man costume; I may try that next year, running as a microwaved bell pepper.
You know the true meaning of Thanksgiving: an NFL triple-header.
Go on now, git!
