Defense led the day in the girls division on Sunday, May 12 at the High School Southern Regional Championships, as wind and sun were big factors in the outcome that saw Saga, a conglomerate team from Raleigh, N.C., beat Paideia School from Atlanta, Ga., 8-6 at the cap for top tournament honors.
The day began with a low-scoring game between HB Woodlawn’s junior varsity team, from Arlington, Va., and University School of Nashville (Tenn.) that ended 0-9, but went to cap as the ladies from Woodlawn capitalized on their zone defense and forced USN to struggle on long points. However, USN converted more end zone plays and ran away with the win.
The next round featured two semifinal contests with Paideia facing off against USN and Saga going up against the HB Woodlawn varsity team.
Woodlawn varsity team member Agnes Cheng, a freshman handler, said coach Jacob Nuxoll worked with the team to make last-minute adjustments to their zone offense.
"It was a tough game, a really tough game," Cheng said. "The one great thing we did is we adjusted."
Still, Woodlawn fell to Saga, 6-9, with senior Klara Calderon-Guthe accounting for four assists and a score. Other playmakers include junior Ashley Powell, who threw two assists, and Domenica Sutherland, a junior who had two scores and two assists.
In the other semifinal game, Paideia took on University School of Nashville, winning 11-4. Defensive stalwart Sarah Brock, a sophomore from Paideia, knocked down six Ds in the game, while senior Leah Kessler found herself in the end zone three times and also had three assists. Senior Rachel Kramer also had a good game, running in three scores.
The finals featured Paideia Groove and North Carolina conglomerate Saga in a battle of wits, as wind was a huge factor. However, the wind didn’t hinder Kessler, who assisted four of the team’s 6 goals. Kramer also found the end zone for Paideia with 3 scores. Senior Anna Clauson accounted for the Paideia’s other two scores.
Saga’s Calderon-Guthe, at 6 feet tall, was found all over the field with two assists, one score and five Ds. The rest of the time, the team relied on sophomore Katie Cubrilovic, who dished out five assists, including the game winner.
Sunday was for mothers and their sons on Day 2 at the Southern High School Regional Championships; a day that saw Paideia fall to University School of Nashville, 12-11, in the finals of the tournament. It was also a day of thanks to the mothers of the players, as some teams paid tribute to these leading ladies with public displays of appreciation.
The Brookwood High boys’ squad, as a surprise to their mothers, wore "I Heart Mom" jerseys during the morning game and also presented their moms with roses afterward. The team from Snellville, Ga., lost to Chapel Hill (N.C.) High in the morning round, 7-13, and then played for fifth place against Catholic High (Baton Rouge, La.), but found themselves out early, as Catholic won, 8-13.
Perhaps the most spectacular game of the tournament came in the semifinals when Carolina Friends, from Durham, N.C., faced off against Paideia, an Atlanta-based team, in a hotly contested match. Paideia led early and took half with a score of 7-0, in which John Stubbs, a senior, scored five of the team’s seven goals and assisted on one score. However, the game took a turn when Nick Macleod, a senior from Carolina Friends scored the first goal of an 8-1 run by the Durham-based team, which brought the score to 8-9 with Paideia up by just one score.
"We play a lot of defenses, and we played this one—it’s called the puppy fence—we played it most of the second half and they didn’t know how to work against it," Carolina Friends senior Crispin Whittier said. "They kept throwing stuff over the top (of the cup) and it didn’t work out."
Despite the epic comeback, Paideia eked out the win, 10-9, and proceeded to the finals where they would take on University School of Nashville.
The final game was a battle of beasts, as Eli Motycka, a senior at USN, accumulated seven assists and two Ds. Stubbs answered Motycka’s play with five assists and three goals of his own.
USN came on strong at the beginning with a 5-1 score against Paideia. Then, the Atlanta team evened the score 8-8 just after half time. Senior Mitchell Lutz kept USN even with Paideia with three scores in the second half. When the cap horn blew, the teams were even at 11-11, but Motycka and Lutz came through for their team in the clutch with an assist and score to win it all, 12-11.