South Carroll field hockey ousted in region semis
Poolesville's Bierly scores game winner to advance to 2A West championship
The South Carroll High field hockey team's playoff run stalled out against at Poolesville High on Tuesday, with the host Falcons winning 1-0 in a Class 2A West semifinal.
With 27 minutes and 43 seconds left to play, Poolesville senior Dakota Bierly converted an assist from sophomore Allyson Dahlen.
Bierly called it a one-in-a-million shot.
"Ally Dahlen set it up perfectly, and I just whacked it in," Bierly said.
From that point on, Poolesville (11-2) did its best to grind the game down to a halt, keeping the ball away from South Carroll (11-4).
"Once we go up, we just have to keep it," Bierly said.
"So we slow it down and play our game. And when we have the lead, it's our game."
Poolesville head coach Regina Grubb noted that both teams were extremely similar to each other, and not just in the black and gold school colors.
The teams had the same number of corners seven apiece while Poolesville had a slight 4-3 advantage in shots on goal.
"It was hard-fought by both teams," Grubb said.
"It was a fun game to coach. And I have to imagine it was a fun game for the spectators, too."
The advantage for the Falcons was one shot past an otherwise bulletproof junior goalie Brooke Leppo.
"We've been working on corners and direct shots," Grubb said.
"This game, sometimes you have to have a little luck on your side, and today we had luck on offense."
Leppo finished with three saves, which was another mirrored stat mirrored by Poolesville with senior goalie Shelby Dahlen collecting three saves.
"Poolesville is a great team," Bacon said. "We're very evenly matched.
You can't ask for a better game with those stats. It was played right in the middle."
It's a rough loss for South Carroll, which will lose 11 seniors from this year's team.
"We'll have a solid team coming up from JV, but losing 11 is tough," Bacon said.
Poolesville will travel to play at Century today.
The Knights defeated Winters Mill 2-0 in Tuesday's other semifinal contest.