Thomas Worthington beats New Albany in overtime for OHSAA field hockey state title repeat
There were so many penalty corners in Saturday’s field hockey state final that Thomas Worthington’s Sophia Borghese fully expected one to decide the championship.
That Borghese would end her sophomore season with the same exclamation point that defined her freshman year was an afterthought, at least to her, until the very end.
The Cardinals attacker took a pass from Meredith Estepp seven minutes into overtime, drove 55 yards down the field, won a one-on-one battle and beat New Albany goalie Caroline Spangenberg at the 2:46 mark to give Thomas a 2-1 win and a championship repeat on its home field.
“It’s a very fun experience, I’ll just say,” said Borghese, who also scored the championship-winning goal against Watterson in overtime a season ago. “I had to maneuver around (defenders) and I really thought one of them would take the ball away. I got lucky that none of them touched (the ball). I’m just happy that it’s over. No more stress.”
Paige Cornelius’ goal, her 75th of the season, gave New Albany (20-3) a 1-0 lead halfway through the third quarter, but the Eagles were denied their first championship in their first state tournament appearance. It was the eighth championship for Thomas.
Sophia Borghese with her 2ND STRAIGHT STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GOAL! She score the GWG last year as a freshman, and did it again as a Sophomore to give @TWFieldHockey their Second straight @OHSAASports Title and their 8th title!
From our broadcast for @NFHSNetwork
Story from… pic.twitter.com/OvjbxqD3y6— Yamo Media (@YamoMedia) November 4, 2023
At the time of Cornelius’ goal, New Albany had a 10-4 edge in penalty corners.
From that point, Thomas (21-2) had 10 to one for the Eagles.
Julie Conroy tied it with 2:52 left in regulation off a penalty corner, and New Albany barely had possession in overtime.
“We just knew we needed to be super aggressive and get some good shots,” Conroy said. “Rowan (Casey) found me, I got a perfect pass and I just one-time hit (the ball) like we’ve been practicing. We needed to be more offensively minded, and that’s what we did in the fourth quarter especially.”
Cardinals coach Terri Simonetti Frost attributed the turnaround to a handful of lineup changes, including moving Casey to left midfielder, Courtney Stegemiller to right back in the defense and assigning Molly McClellan to cover Cornelius, a Harvard commit.
“We played our game then,” Simonetti Frost said. “It took a little while to figure it out, but once we made the change we started generating a lot more offense. We were able to pressure and push it in because we were right there, knocking on the door. … Once we changed the lineup, my team came back to Thomas Worthington field hockey.”
Cornelius scored from about 15 yards directly in front of the goal off a corner. Lucy Pentzer, who takes most of the Eagles’ corners, fed Cornelius, who took the ball and unleashed her shot in virtually the same motion.
Thomas nearly tied it with 10:30 to go off a penalty corner, but Spangenberg made a sliding save to her left to deny Casey.
Eight minutes later, Casey assisted Conroy’s goal.
Spangenberg made nine saves. Thomas goalie Mae Conroy, who like Spangenberg is a freshman, stopped seven shots.
“They did what Thomas Worthington does,” New Albany coach Marissa Weldon said. “They brought a lot of pressure.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Thomas Worthington beats New Albany for OHSAA field hockey state title
