Century wanted nothing more than to establish itself as a major player in the state?s field hockey hierarchy. Rising Sun already is in that group ? and showed Century why last night.
Senior attack Rebecca Willert and senior midfielder Whitney Reid each scored as Rising Sun captured the Cecil County school?s fourth state title with a 2-0 victory over Century at South River High School in Edgewater. Rising Sun?s victory represents its second straight state title, as it shared the 1A title with Pocomoke last fall.
“We were in it to win it this year,” Rising Sun coach Gail Dillaway said. “We didn?t want to share it with anyone this time and leave the field with no regrets.”
Reid gave her team all it would need by scoring with a little less than 13 minutes left in the first half before Willert doubled the lead four minutes into the second half with her 10th goal of the season. Rising Sun?s defense did the rest as it recorded the team?s 10th shutout of the season.
Century coach Gayle Taylor said she was disappointed with the defeat, but proud of how her team played throughout the postseason after the Knights (11-6) lost their last three games of the regular season However, the fifth-year school from Carroll County outscored the opposition, 12-1, in the postseason, reaching the state final after posing a 3-0 victory over Patuxent in the state semifinals.
“Once the county title was out of reach, I just told our players to forget about that and look at the bigger picture,” Taylor said. “We beat two teams in the playoffs that beat us in the regular season and played with a lot of heart. Getting to this level will help Carroll County get closer to the playing level of places like Howard and Anne Arundel counties.”
Rising Sun (14-2), which also won the 2A title in 2003 and were 1A co-champions in 2002, won the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference title during the regular season. But the Tigers played even better in the playoffs, as it outscored the opposition, 20-1, during the posteason.
“This was the best team we?ve played all year,” Century senior attack Kristen Resutek said. “We were just so excited to get this far for being such a young team. We came in the playoffs as the underdog and just played like we had nothing to lose.”
