Lady Knight Field Hockey Team Claims 5th CCAC Championship
In a rematch of last year's CCAC championship, the regular season champion Harrisburg Christian School faced off against Lancaster Christian. "It is difficult to beat any team three times in one season. That made us nervous, but we had confidence in the girls to "just do it" said Assistant Coach Jon Bassoff after the game.
The Lancers employed a defensive strategy dropping two defenders behind the 25 at all times and that strategy frustrated the Lady Knights throughout the match. HCS was able to generate 18 penalty corners but the Lancer defenders did an excellent job in stopping the ball before it reached their goalkeeper forcing Abby Smith to only make two saves. With the HCS attack stymied on one end of the field, the HCS defense led by Cassie Beakler and Janell Holmes held the Lancers to only two penalty corners and no shots while not allowing the visitors to cross the 25 in the second half.
Tied at the end of regulation, the Lady Knights were forced to play their second overtime game in as many days. But this time, HCS would end it quickly. After gaining another penalty corner, Beccah Smith recovered a Janell Holmes shot and passed across the circle. After the ball hit a Lancer foot, Aubrey Juris crushed the ball into the back corner to give HCS back to back CCAC championships. "Throughout the game, I felt it was not a matter of if we would score but when we score" said Coach Debbie Bassoff after the game.
When asked how she felt after winning her fourth CCAC championship, Debbie Bassoff responded "Thankful...When you coach as long as I have coached, you know how much needs to go right and how much can go wrong when things are decided on one given night. So, I am thankful for the Lord rewarding our hard work with a championship, I am thankful for our great fans who braved this awful weather to cheer us on to victory and I am thankful for these young ladies who worked so hard over the last 10 weeks. They made history by being the first girls' team here at HCS to win back to back championships and made this one of the best season in HCS field hockey history."