Good Counsel field hockey teams makes it two in a row –

by Judith Hruz

Editor

Our Lady of Good Counsel varsity field hockey coach Kelly Massino had hoped this season would be a repeat of the championship-winning season of 2018.

But the spring graduating class “left big shoes to fill, so the team this fall had a lot of work to do,” she said.

Even if the team did not capture the coveted top spot in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC), she wanted them to learn tools to help them in the game of life, such as dedication and resiliency.

After all, she said, “we play some of the best competition in the East Coast in order to prepare the athletes for playoffs.”

That competition did just that – prepared them for their second straight WCAC championship.

The Falcons came from a two-goal deficit to beat St. John’s College High School, 3-2, on Nov. 3.

That win boosted the team’s conference record to 9-1 on the season, including playoffs, and 11-10 overall.

In addition to the championship win, the team members said a highlight of the season was shutting out The Academy of the Holy Cross, 5-0, during regular-season play.

Massino said the game against Holy Cross in the WCAC semi-final was also “one of our most exciting wins.”

She said the game was scoreless going into the final two minutes of the game. Senior Lauren Gerold scored the game-winning goal to send Good Counsel to the finals.

“This was an extremely hard fought battle by both teams and I couldn’t be prouder of my team for pulling off the win,” Massino said.

But the championship win was “the most exciting and toughest win we had.”

Good Counsel and St. John’s faced each other in the past six championships.

“Going into last season, [St. John’s] had claimed the past three championships until we toped them, 2-1, in double overtime last fall,” Massino said. “In this year’s final, [St. John’s] went up 2-0 in the first half, which could have been very deflating to my team, but it worked in the opposite fashion. We responded later in the first half with a goal scored by senior Cheryl Krizmanich, assisted by Lauren Gerold, and then tied up the game in the second half with a goal scored by Gracie Smith to send the game into overtime. Defense, led by junior goalie Casey Phelps, stopped shot after shot the Cadets were putting on the cage to help their team maintain the comeback they were trying to achieve.”

In a little under two minutes into overtime, Gerold — on a pass from Krizmanich — scored the game-winning goal.

Massino said Gerold scored a program-topping 21 goals, with five assists, in a single season.

In her career, Gerold has scored 32 goals, with nine assists, putting her at the top for a two-year varsity player and within the top five overall, Massino said.

Gerold was named WCAC Player of the Year.

Eleven other players earned WCAC All-Conference honors: Krizmanich (midfield), Julia West (defense) and Smith (attack), 1^st Team; Katherine Dow (midfield), Madelyn McLaughlin (defense), Jessica Moore (attack), Madeleine Rudolph (defense) and Phelps (goalie), 2nd Team; and Lillie Adams (defense), Kaitlyn Gallagher (attack) and Taylor Morrison (midfield), Honorable Mention.

Massino said the team was led by five seniors, Gerold, Krizmanich, McLaughlin, Moore and Danielle Salameh, who have been part of the program for four years and “have not only been leaders on the field, but off the field, as well.”

She said their care and love for their teammates “has been inspiring for the underclassmen, which led them to want to achieve all of the goals the team set forth to complete these season.

Massino is excited about next year.

“We have had a relatively young (a majority of sophomores, juniors and even some freshman) starting lineup the past two years seasons, so having a more seasoned team will be an advantage for us,” she said. “We again will be setting ourselves up with an extremely competitive schedule to prepare the athletes not only physically, but mentally, for playoffs.”

Massino, who has coached the varsity field hockey team at Good Counsel for four years after two years as junior varsity head coach, holds a 49-25 varsity record – and the back-to-back championships.

Before coaching at Good Counsel, she was head varsity field hockey coach at Springbrook High School for two years, where she won a Regional Championship in 2011. She has also been the head junior varsity lacrosse coach at Springbrook, head junior varsity field hockey coach at Rockville High School and head indoor track coach at Rockville. She holds a 66-27-1 overall record in coaching varsity field hockey.