LADUE – It was the field hockey equivalent of a game-deciding free throw or tournament-clinching putt.
After being fouled on a breakaway in overtime, John Burroughs junior Sarah Ding was awarded a penalty stroke. She stood alone, seven yards from the goal, with the outcome of the game resting in her wrists.
“I started thinking, ‘This is the big moment everyone dreams of – the stroke in overtime,’” Ding said. “But then I thought, ‘Don’t think it’s a big moment, just focus on the present and do what you’ve practiced so many times.’”
Ding flicked a shot into the left corner of the cage, setting off a celebration filled with both jubilation and relief as John Burroughs outlasted Villa Duchesne 3-2 Wednesday in a thrilling rematch of the Midwest Field Hockey state championship game last season.
John Burroughs (7-0-2) defeated Villa Duchesne for the second time in the last three meetings, after the Saints had won 15 consecutive games against the Bombers from 2011-2021.
Villa Duchesne (6-2-1), the three-time defending state champions, trailed for 42 minutes of game time Wednesday, including the entirety of the second half, until Saints’ junior Finley Meek found the cage with 1 minute 37 seconds remaining in regulation.
The shock that reverberated through the sizable John Burroughs home crowd was also felt by Bombers’ junior Emma Zhang.
“I didn’t even consider overtime as a possibility, so when they tied it up, I was stunned,” Zhang said.
Prior to the 7-on-7 overtime period, Ding and sophomore Katy Chapman had a short conversation as they departed the John Burroughs’ huddle.
“Sarah and I were saying, ‘This is the moment. Leave everything out there, whatever you have left,’” Chapman said.
An outstanding block tackle by Chapman in the defensive end put the winning play in motion. Zhang accepted the ball in the midfield and sent a long pass to Ding, who sprinted ahead of the Villa Duchesne defense.
As Ding tried to pull the ball around Saints’ goalkeeper Grace Benac, she collided with the extended right leg of Benac and tumbled to the turf, drawing the penalty stroke call.
Moments later, Ding calmly stepped to the spot and delivered the game-winning stroke 3 minutes and 2 seconds into overtime.
“Sarah is ready to be in those types of situations. Her composure over the ball was tremendous,” John Burroughs’ coach Meridith Thorpe said.
Ding opened the scoring in the first quarter on a wild sequence during John Burroughs’ first corner opportunity. After Zhang provided the insert, Ding attempted to make a pass to the back post, but it struck the foot of a Villa Duchesne defender and careened 20 feet in the air, eventually landing over the head of Saints’ goalkeeper Anna Puschel and into the cage.
“I saw it in slow motion,” Zhang said. “I thought, ‘Please go in.’”
Puschel made five saves in the first half, twice denying Zhang at the doorstep and also rejecting heavy shots from Ding, Chapman and senior Katherine Pruitt.
Strong goaltending from Puschel allowed Villa Duchesne to find its rhythm. Taking advantage of a restart, sophomore Margot Leary tied the game at 1 when she quickly dribbled into the circle and blasted a shot into the top right corner of the cage with 5 minutes 33 seconds remaining in the half.
But four minutes later, Chapman drove baseline and centered a pass to Zhang, who poked it into the back of the cage to give John Burroughs a 2-1 lead at halftime.
“I can always find Emma in the circle,” Chapman said.
Chapman was a force throughout the game, traveling baseline-to-baseline, creating scoring chances and relieving pressure with slick, air dribbling maneuvers.
“I just trust in my teammates,” Chapman said. “I trust them to move off-ball, and if there’s a lot of pressure, I know I can distribute it. Our ability to play as a unit helps to calm everything.”
But there was nothing calm about the way Villa Duchesne emerged from halftime. The Saints earned their first corner of the game midway through the third quarter, and the resulting give-and-go between Leary and junior Katie Crump required an excellent blocker save from John Burroughs’ senior goalie Kate Grady.
Grady, who made 16 saves in the Bombers’ 2-1 regular season win over Villa Duchesne last season, and Saints’ senior Grace Benac, each made excellent saves during a back-and-forth third quarter.
But Villa Duchesne began to tilt the field in the fourth.
The Saints earned corners, controlled play and eventually found the tying goal. Crump delivered a pass into the circle that senior Ella Anthon advanced to junior Finley Meek, who powered it into the cage with 1:37 to play to send the game into overtime tied 2-2.
“I’m really proud of the girls for their hustle and for battling the whole time,” Villa Duchesne coach Kate Graft said. “It was a 50-50 game. It could have gone either way.”
But in overtime, it was the relentlessness of Chapman, the vision of Zhang and the calmness of Ding that created the game-winner.
“It would have been easy, with them knocking that goal in with a minute to play, to throw our hands up,” Thorpe said. “I’m really pleased with how we responded and how we were able to finish it off.”