Field Hockey: District Title Falls Out of Oakton's Reach

Despite showing fight through to the end of the Concorde District Final game, the Oakton field hockey team fell too far behind Westfield in the first half to be able to stage its trademark comeback, giving the title to the Bulldogs in a 7-1 loss.

All season long the Oakton field hockey team has relied on late-in-the-game heroics to defeat its opponents.

But when a storm-shortened game left them with a district loss last week, the Cougars started to understand the unpredictable circumstances could prevent second-half comebacks. So in their last two games, the girls scored within minutes of the start of the game, which led to victories.

Kate Ruch, head coach, was hoping early scoring would carry into the Concorde District final game against Westfield on Friday. Instead, they again learned the consequences of scrambling to get in a groove at the beginning of the game.

The Bulldogs jumped ahead early, scoring its first goal 5:34 into the first half on an unassisted goal from Abigail Fallon. They went on to score two more goals in the next two-and-a-half minutes and six total by the end of the first half.

"We just weren't ready. I thought we were ready, but we just didn't have it in us tonight," Ruch said. "We just couldn't get the ball up the field. They have some really nice corners, we just were unable to play them defensively."

After allowing another Westfield goal a little more than a minute into the second half, the Cougars pulled themselves together to hold the Bulldogs at seven goals for the rest of the game.

The Cougars scored their only goal on an unassisted shot from Jackie Rupp with 8:47 left in the game.

Three Cougars were named to the Concorde District All-Tournament team: Kara Leonard, Adelle Clinton and Danielle Somadelis.

As the runner-up in the Concorde District playoffs, the Cougars earned an automatic berth into the Northern Region tournament.

Ruch said she and the girls have a few kinks to work out in practice ahead of the tournament, but she thinks they're ready to take on the fierce competition.

"Overall, we're just going to have to work on raising the intensity when we step onto the field," Ruch said. "Fortunately this isn't our last game. We would never want to end the season on a loss like this."

As the No. 2 Concorde seed, Oakton will host the No. 3 Liberty District seed at 7 p.m. Tuesday.