Last Second Heroics Earn Holy Child First State Championship

Holy Child VS. Rye Country Day School Field Hockey: Last Second Heroics Earn Holy Child First State Championship

– By Jim Byrne –

“Unbelievable.”

Whether it was in complete jubilation or dejection, that was the word most uttered after Holy Child’s – well, unbelievable – 1-0 victory over Rye Country Day School. With Monday, Nov. 6’s win, the Gryphons claimed the New York State Association of Independent Schools Athletic Association Championship.

In a game the Wildcats dominated, in terms of possession, the Gryphons scored on a short corner play with only seconds to go in regulation. Once the ball was hit in play, Holy Child’s Laura Hudson – a senior Co-Captain – somehow found a way to put a stick on the ball in major traffic, knocking it in for the decisive goal with only five seconds remaining in the game.

“I don’t really know how it happened,” said an ecstatic Hudson afterwards. “I just kind of stuck my stick in there and hit it in. I was underneath the goalie and I hit it, but I didn’t know if it was going to go in.”

Despite there being five seconds left in the contest, the Gryphons thought that they had won the game then and there. That led to a celebration and pile-up that had to be cleared up before the game resumed.

“I actually thought that when she scored that goal, the game was over,” said Holy Child Head Coach Barbara Lorys. “I mean, it was unbelievable.”

With the game winding down, Lorys was making plans for overtime.

“For the last few minutes, I was on the sideline with assistant coach Cheryl O’Shea trying to figure out what we were going to do for the overtime,” said Lorys. “I pretty much figured that if we hadn’t scored by that point, we weren’t going to score.”

Rye Country Day School put on a dominant showing in the first half of the game, holding the ball offensively for nearly 26 of the 30 minutes. The only problem was that they had nothing to show for it come halftime. Even in the second half they were able to find their way into Holy Child territory frequently, but just could not score a goal legitimately. Liz Garry put the ball in the goal, but it was from outside the circle, negating what at first looked to be a 1-0 Wildcat lead.

While Holy Child had their backs to the wall for most of the contest, Charlotte Tierney played ferocious defense on a constant basis, thwarting Rye Country Day’s attempts at setting up scoring opportunities. Paige LaBella – who recently broke a Holy Child scoring record set by her sister Danielle – also played admirably for the Gryphons.

With the win, Holy Child improved their record to 16-4, capping off a season that was a pleasant surprise from start to finish. Or maybe you could call it, “unbelievable.”