F I E L D
H O C K E Y
A PERSONAL RIVALRY PHOTO BY PHIL STAPLETON
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PHOTO BY PHIL STAPLETON
RUNNING WILD East junior Sasha Bull makes a full speed running shot on goal in the first half of the NCFHA semifinals vs. Chapel Hill.
TIGER HOWL Senior co-captain, #14 Julia Grant, leaps and shares a team cry of victory after defeating crosstown arch rival East Chapel Hill 2-0 in the NCFHA semifinals.
PHOTO BY PHIL STAPLETON
he rivalry between East and Chapel Hill is huge across all sports – it’s our version of UNC-Duke. But the field hockey world is particularly small. Many of the girls are friends and play for the same club team, Carolina All Stars. East has set the bar in North Carolina field hockey for the last eight years. Though there were many close games, going into the season the girls on my team had never beaten East before. Mentally, that’s tough to overcome. Getting that first win – in sudden death overtime, no less – was huge. It was early in the season, and we were rebuilding from losing eight seniors the year before. That win gave us a great deal of confidence moving forward, but the ultimate goal was to advance to the State Championship, which would mean getting past a very talented East team two more times. By the time we got to the semifinal game, there seemed to be an unspoken feeling that we were not supposed to win – no team had beaten East in the playoffs in eight years, so could we? That nervousness showed in the first half. The fact that the girls were able to regroup in such a clutch moment and come away with a 2-0 win spoke volumes about their mentality and work ethic. On a personal level, my little sister [Isabel Long] is a junior on East’s team. We are really, really close – she grew up watching my games. I played at East for two years and then Chapel Hill for two years, and field hockey has been a huge part of our relationship. It’s been so much fun for us to have this good-natured family rivalry, and even more so for me, since I came away with the bragging rights this season. Sorry, Mom!”
– Chapel Hill High School coach Anna Long END OF THE LINE AND SEASON Carrboro exchanges high-fives with the Myers Park team after their 5-0 loss in NCFHA semifinals. January/February 2017 chapelhillmagazine.com
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