A convincing 4-1 win over Sanford in the opening round of the DIAA Division II field hockey tournament has given Sussex Academy a boost of confidence and a trip to the quarterfinals.

“Definitely heavy on the heart,” said senior Kacie Rawlings. “I don't play any other sports, so this is my last game on our turf. I know we all were kind of feeling it before the game, but it ended up being really good for us.” 

While it was a battle between the eighth and ninth seeds and two teams that won nine regular-season games, the Seahawks controlled the game wire to wire. 

“Sanford was a team that we weren't too sure about,” said captain Ryan Lowe. “We didn't have any film on them, but sometimes those are the games we play the best; when we don't know what we're up against, we can just play our game.” 

Lowe’s own game is controlling the midfield and launching rockets at the goal. In her final game as a Sussex Academy field hockey player at home, she tallied a hat trick.

“It means a lot to play on this field,” Lowe said. “This is my last game on this field, and it's so special to have all these great girls beside me and be supported every step of the way.” 

Lowe’s first goal came a little over five minutes into the second quarter, following a scoreless first. The girls’ break after the first quarter helped solve the Sanford defense’s riddle.

“They were man-marking, so it was a little bit difficult at the beginning to kind of work around that,” said senior Shea Danahy. “After coming off and really talking about it with all the girls, we discussed what we needed to do. We went out there and we performed well.”

Danahy’s relentless counter helped lead to a few more chances, and the girls converted when junior Bailey Mears tucked away a loose ball in front of the frame.

A 2-0 lead at half helped to settle the nerves and seemed to help the girls keep the pedal to the metal with controlled intensity.

“High intensity today,” said coach Caitlyn Hardy. “We didn't want it to be our last game.”

Lowe scored her second goal with about two minutes to go in the third quarter. She completed her hat trick before Sanford scored, leading to the 4-1 result. 

On the season, the girls have shown improvement as a team. 

“We've really cleaned it up and got it together,” Lowe said. “Hopefully, we're gonna show that through the tournament.”

A sign of their progress could be the result against a Wilmington Friends team that toppled Sussex Academy 5-0 earlier in the year.

“We definitely wanted to end with a win on our home field,” Danahy said. “But now we're looking forward to playing Wilmington Friends.”

Sussex Academy will travel to Wilmington Friends for a quarterfinal game at 2:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 31.