Smithtown East Field Hockey Falls To Sachem East 1-0

The Smithtown East field hockey team had one last opportunity to tie the game, that's all they needed. Trailing by a goal against third-seeded Sachem East in the teams' Class A semifinal matchup, the Bulls were awarded a penalty corner with less than a minute to play.

Despite the urgency, Smithtown East was unable to tally the equalizer against the visiting Arrows, who broke the scoring drought with 5:55 to go Monday and held on to log a 1-0 victory and advance to the county championship game.

Sachem advances to the Class A county championship game on Thursday at Newfield High School (2 p.m.). They'll face No. 1 Ward Melville, which swept the season series from the Arrows, including a 3-2 win on October 27. Meanwhile, the Bulls watched their season, and the careers of four seniors, come to an end.

"Sachem did a great job," Smithtown East head coach Ann Naughton said. "We had the opportunity to score a few times. Both teams came to play. Whenever it's the end of our season, it's a hard pill to swallow."

Smithtown East (13-5) came in as the higher seed, but the sides had fought to a series split during the regular season, with the Bulls taking the most recent clash, a victory by penalty strokes on October 25. That too was played on the freshly minted turf at Nicholas Schroeder Field, a much quicker surface than the grass that it replaced.

With a solid transition game, Sachem had put pressure on the Smithtown East cage all afternoon, and it finally went ahead thanks to the efforts of Katie Trombetta. The freshman phenom redirected a pass by Jill Donodeo with under six minutes to play to put the visitors ahead.

Trombetta scored the game-winner in the teams' first meeting this year, a 4-3 shootout, and once again delivered as time ticked down. The corner on which she struck on Monday was Sachem's 10^th, compared to just four for Smithtown.

"Eventually the ball was going to drop, unfortunately for us," Naughton said. "They're a good team. They scored on a penalty corner, which you're supposed to do. We made some defensive mistakes also."

After Trombetta's goal, Sachem (14-3) did well to keep the ball off its defensive side, even earning a penalty corner. However, Smithtown East gained possession and had one last surge, firing upfield with less than a minute remaining. Awarded a corner itself, the ball was entered from the right side, bouncing in front of the goal before being cleared initially. Sami Nizich tracked it down on the left side and fired it back in the vicinity of Lauren Russell, Tori O'Brien and Christina Fini, but none was able to the Bulls were unable to put a shot on goal. When Trombetta lashed the ball out, the official blew the whistle and Sachem began to celebrate.

"They didn't give up, they played to the end," Naughton said. "We were able to get a penalty corner with seconds left in the game. You have to finish. You don't get an opportunity like that very often. Still, I'm proud of the team and their effort.""

The Bull defense made life more difficult on the Sachem attack as Lauren Brennan needed to make just four saves; by contrast, she stood on her head in making 13 to preserve the victory in their most recent meeting.

Still, Smithtown East's chances were few and far between, a stark contrast from their first meeting, a 4-3 barnburner that ended in Sachem's favor. A pair of shots on goal in the first half were easily steered aside by Arrow keeper Jordan Miller, who recorded three saves on the day.