Lady Fords Come Up Just Short Against Unionville

Kelly Sweeney wouldn’t let anyone drop their head. The girls’ ice hockey coach reminded her team of all the good things the Fords did this year.

The team grew to 14 players, after just one year of existence (the Fords had nine players last year). It was a fairly young team that was able to accommodate player of various levels — and still won.

It was an accomplishment that the Fords got back to the Inter-County Scholastic Hockey League Girls Division championship game, using the team’s strong foundation of sophomores Olivia Martin and Chelsea Polidoro, the Fords’ top two players, and senior Katie Smith.

But a second-straight ICSHL title fell just short Monday night, 3-1, to Unionville  at Ice Line in West Chester. The Indians were the only team to beat Haverford this past season, despite a second-period goal from Martin that tied the score and another strong effort by Polidoro, who finished with 30 saves.

The Fords finished another successful season 17-2 overall.

“This group was especially difficult to end the season with, because we had four seniors and this team really developed as a team and a group,” Sweeney said. “From the very beginning, these girls had a positive outlook and attitude that they could get back to the championship game. It’s something that fueled the season. I’m obviously very proud of these girls. We only had nine players last year. It was amazing to start the Haverford program. It wasn’t too shabby to make it back (to the championship) again.”

Unionville took a 1-0 lead after the first period, when the Indians seemed to have the better of the play. But Martin scored the tying goal with 2:49 left in the second period, knotting it at 1-1. The Fords were driving up the center of the ice, when Martin took a feed and went top shelf to tie it.

That seemed to spark the Fords, which put a little heat on offensively, but couldn’t get the go-ahead score. The Indians, on the other hand, took the lead on Anna Donovan’s game-winning goal with 4:02 left in the third period. The Indians scored their last goal on an empty-netter.

“The one thing I kept was hope,” Sweeney said, “because I saw these girls dying in the end with nine players in three overtimes last year and they still came back to win. They pushed it to the end and it came to that second goal. I told the girls that they should be proud that they made it this far and it’s pretty amazing what they have accomplished in just two years. And Martin and Polidoro are back, and they play all year around. I would say we have a bright future ahead of us.”