Field hockey clinches A-10 Tournament berth

Jim Swing
Sports Editor

Sunday morning’s chilly, gusty match could’ve been underlined by just about anything for the VCU field hockey team.

It could’ve been about a group of five seniors – the winningest class in the past 20 years – that have helped reinstate and reinvent a once dormant hockey program that was formerly an afterthought in a prestigious athletic department.

It could’ve been about one of those seniors in particular, Kelsey Scherrer, who might as well be the keeper of the VCU record book.

Instead, the Rams 2-0 grind-it-out win over St. Louis was about achieving a common goal set in a mission statement before the season even started.

Following a disappointing five-win outing in 2011 – in a new conference, with a new head coach – the Rams set the bar at clinching an Atlantic 10 Tournament berth.

And thanks to two goals, one by Stephanie DeMasi and one by Melanie Marotta, the Rams did just that.

“Above all things, that’s great, we’re really happy about that,” Marotta said. “That’s everything you want to do, you want to make the A-10 Tournament and you want to win it.”

For the better part of the first half, VCU dictated the tempo and gathered opportunities, but then failed to capitalize on them. The Rams managed five penalty corners in the first half alone, but wouldn’t let the final one slip away.

Senior Chelsea Hill held up a ball for Scherrer to drive a pass into DeMasi, who flung the ball past St. Louis goalkeeper Tori Westhead to put VCU up 1-0 going into the half. Scherrer’s assist – the 24th of her career – tied the all-time record at VCU. She now holds the record for career goals, points and assists.

“It was good to get the weight off of our shoulders,” VCU head coach Shannon Karl said. “Sometimes these are the kind of games that are the hardest to win so you’ve just got to find a way.”

Midway through a second half in which the Billikens began to show some resistance, the Rams assembled a golden opportunity on yet another penalty corner. Scherrer unleashed a blast from the top circle that Westhead stopped, but held on to for long. Marotta was awarded a penalty stroke, and an opportunity to give the Rams some leverage. She drove a shot to the right side that Westhead couldn’t get to in time, and cushioned the VCU lead.

“I was just focused,” Marotta said. “We do them in practice pretty much every day, so I just tried to zone out like I was in practice and finish it.”

In a season of sky highs and deep lows, the Rams have pushed and pulled their way out of dejection and into the postseason. VCU started out hot, winning seven of its first eight non-conference games, but then dropped its first three matches in the new conference. But the three latest wins, wins over Lock Haven, La Salle, St. Joseph’s and St. Louis, have sprung the Rams into the A-10 Tournament.

No. 4 VCU will take on 1st-seeded Richmond in Amherst, Ma. Friday.

“I think that we’re ready to go, we’re ready to practice, we’re ready to get on a plane, we’re ready to get to Massachusetts,” Scherrer said. “We want to show those teams what we’re made of, so everyone’s ready to go… guns a blazin'”