Flashback Friday: Cape wins 1995 field hockey championship
It all came down to the blink of a second.
Cape tri-captain Shelley Sentman stood square and flicked the penalty stroke high and left to the inside corner of the Tower Hill goal at the 8:41 mark of the third sudden-death overtime in Monday’s continuation of the state’s scholastic field hockey championship.
After 168 minutes and 41 seconds of two-day championship play, after a week of quarterfinal and semifinal battles, after three months of practices and a season of play – a single second ticked. The ball kissed the net and fell to the ground, the whistled sounded, and the second-seeded Vikings prevailed over hockey Goliath Tower Hill 3-2 in what had to be the most grueling contest in that sport’s scholastic history.
In that second, Cape became Delaware’s undefeated (16-0-4) 1995 champion.
For another frozen second, fans and teammates on both sides remained absolutely still. Then the Cape bench and bleachers exploded to engulf the Vikings players in a Sussex County love-in of hugs and cheers, while the numbed Tower Hill players collapsed on the Seaford field in silence or in tears.
Cape's golden moment had come with less than two minutes remaining in the third overtime when Tower Hill goalie Moma Ikeda drew a whistle for trapping the ball as Vikings forward Karinne Lemmon rushed the goal.
"I knew it just had to go in,” Sentman said of the ensuing penalty stroke which decided Monday’s 1-0 sudden-death overtime and the overall 3-2 game score. “I knew exactly where I wanted to put it. It's what I've practiced every day. Ask anybody on the team.”
"The team" is what the championship was all about, according to head coach Ruth Sponaugle Skoglund. "We started with Tower Hill at the beginning of our season,” she said of an early-season scrimmage. "We knew we wanted to end with them. The players were completely physically exhausted after Saturday's four overtimes. I thought at the time we could have shared co-championships. I won't complain because we won, but I'm sorry that any team had to lose in a game like this."
Cape came from behind to knot the score twice on Saturday.
Freshman forward Meredith Keller broke through the Cape defense to score first that day at the 20:00 mark of the first half to put the Hillers up 1-0.
At 14:52 of the second half, Cape answered when sophomore Jackie Warrington drove in a ball off a pass from forward Carrie Lingo, and the regulation game ended 1-1.
Junior Sherry Swartzel, whose heroics in the goal totaled an astounding 19 saves that day, recorded five alone in the first overtime when Tower Hill's front line of Keller and Amy Sun stepped on the accelerator in several two-on-one heartstoppers that brought Swartzel out of the goal every which way but loose. Swartzel was aided by outstanding play from midfielder Emily Weer and halfback Warrington.
“I give 110 percent at practice and at games,” said Swartzel, who amassed 31 saves in tournament play. “I felt extremely nervous before the game, but I knew I had to give it my all.”
In the second overtime, Sun broke loose on the right side to put the Hill up 2-1 at the 7:17 mark. Vikings forward Karinne Lemmon struck from the right side at the opposite end five minutes later with a goal that put the game in state field hockey history books as the tournament’s first suspended championship.
Starting players contributing to Cape’s first hockey title since 1979 include forwards Holly Brock, Karinne Lemmon and Carrie Lingo (tri-captain); links Allison Griffith and Shelley Sentman (tri-captains), and Emily Weer; halfbacks Nicole Starr, Stephanie Warrington, and Jackie Warrington; sweeper Jennifer Reihm; and goalie Sherry Swartzel.
Other members of the 1995 championship team are Angel Cahill, Erin Ewart, Kelly Flaherty, Allison Gaffney, Leslie Kroon, Christina Maull, Kelly Palekar, Amy Reardon, Kim Smith, Alexia Waples and Erica Waples.
“It was not just one play,” said a modest Sentman moments after Monday’s game. “It was the way we played not just for one day, but two days and seven overtimes. I’m just so proud of all our girls!”
The Cape community echoes Sentman’s sentiments.
Artful dodges - Coach Carolyn Ivins, who led Cape to its 1979 title, was in the Cape stands for both Saturday’s and Monday’s action sporting her 1979-80 state championship jacket.
“It can be done!” she said Saturday before game time … Senior Sarah Rappolt played an outstanding game from her halfback position for Tower Hill … Tower Hill coach Robin Adair is a former standout player for Cape and also played on Salisbury State’s national championship team along with Cape graduate Donna Peck.
