CHESAPEAKE CITY — Playing a challenging schedule will either beat you down or build you up.
For Kent County High School’s field hockey team, it’s been the latter, according to head coach Susan Wright-Taylor.
She attributes some of KCHS’ improvement, which has carried over into the playoffs, to a regular-season schedule chock-full of talented opponents such as Queen Anne’s, Easton, Stephen Decatur and unbeaten Kent Island — all larger Class 2A and 3A schools — and defending Class 1A state champion Pocomoke.
After an 0-8 start, rising Kent County has won three of its last four games, and heads to tonight’s Class 1A South Region I final at North East of Cecil County after having upset top seed Bohemia Manor, 4-0, on Oct. 23.
The Trojans avenged a 2-1 loss at Bo Manor in their season opener Sept. 11.
The rematch last week was as lopsided as the score would suggest, save for about two minutes early in the third quarter when Bo Manor (10-3) earned four penalty corners in a row.
Kent County came out unscathed as none of the short corner opportunities produced a shot, thanks in part to a back line of Tess Fuchs, Taylor Strong and Jane Cleary and solid play in the midfield anchored by Abby Gallo.
By quarter’s end, Kent County had regained the momentum for good.
The Trojans went on the attack immediately, and took the first shot of the game — off a penalty corner — about four and a half minutes in.
They earned a second corner with 9 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in the opening frame, and got off another quality shot that was stopped by goalie Sophie Azoulay.
The pattern repeated itself at the 7:47 mark, when another corner opportunity led to another shot and another save for Azoulay.
Over the final 66 seconds of the first quarter, Kent took five more shots — two in a row, and then three more in succession — but could not solve Azoulay.
Bo Manor’s keeper was credited with six saves in the first 15 minutes to preserve a scoreless tie.
At the other end of the field, Aiyanna Copper was not required to make a save because the Eagles crossed midfield only once in the first quarter.
The Trojans’ heavy offensive push paid off 2:08 into the second quarter when sophomore Mali Wirth gathered in a pass from Gallo, dodged a defender and flicked the ball past Azoulay for what would turn out to be the winning goal.
Freshman Keelyn Clayton made it 2-0 with 7:19 remaining in the half, racing down the right side and slamming home the first of her two goals.
The Eagles had their first scoring chance of the night with 4:57 to go in the half after earning a penalty corner, but they were bottled up by Trojan defenders before getting off a shot.
Earning another corner with 29 seconds remaining, they let the clock expire before inserting the ball and playing the corner out. Again, they were denied a shot.
Bo Manor came out of the halftime huddle with more energy and more movement, forcing Copper to make her first save of the night with 6:37 to play in the third quarter. But it was all for naught because there was no change on the scoreboard.
“We dug our heels in and didn’t let them score,” Wright-Taylor said matter-of-factly.
Clayton, the fastest player on the field, nearly tripled the Trojans’ lead with less than a minute to play in the quarter when she raced down the right side and launched a shot that required a glove save by Jolee Evans, who had replaced Azoulay as the Eagles’ goalie at the start of the second half.
Ultimately, Clayton did score again, this time with 1:14 elapsed in the final frame to extend the spread to 3-0. Wirth was credited with the assist.
McKenna Messick wrapped up the scoring 2:12 later, when she deflected an air ball from Gallo into the back of the net for the 4-0 final.
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Kent County advances to a region final for the first time since 2021, while North East is playing in its sixth straight region final.
The Indians (4-9) pulled off their own upset in last week’s semifinal round with a 4-1 victory at No. 2 seed Elkton (6-7).
“We have to show up from the very beginning,” coach Susan Wright-Taylor said of the game plan tonight for the Trojans.
To that end, she said, the focus in practices has been on “basic skills, so turnovers don’t cost us.”
