Empire State Games Roundup: Girls Field Hockey Earns Another Ring

For the Hudson Valley girls field hockey team, the Empire State Games proved fruitful soil.

Veteran coach Sharon Sarsen, herself of many championship rings in both field hockey and lacrosse, guided Hudson Valley to their fifth consecutive gold medal.  

The Valley coasted to a 3-0 victory over Long Island in one of more buzzed-about games in the tournament last week.

Hudson Valley made history in the process, becoming the first region to reel off five straight championships since field hockey was added to the Games 31 years ago.  

In the championship game, Hudson Valley dictated the tempo from the jump-start. A goal from Sleepy Hollow's Jennifer Angevine put them on the scoreboard before a number of tight, tense sequences followed.

Long Island began to control possession as they came closer and closer to cracking the scorebook.    

Sarsen, who has a jewelry-store like display with championship rings, captured her second championship in as many seasons (Sarsen led the Lakeland/Panas girls varsity lacrosse team to a Section I championship and a berth in the state championship in June) by imploring her team to calm down and collectively clamp down.

Hudson Valley then put a straightjacket on Long Island, adding on two goals. They ended up outshooting LI by a 14-5 margin. They controlled the pace, spread the field, and executed some crisp passing before celebrating the 12th gold in Hudson Valley's history.

Ten of those 12 have come under the tutelage of Sarsen, a no-nonsense taskmaster who spent much of her early July meshing the core into a unit.