The perennial state powers were clearly the two best teams in the tournament.
Saturday morning’s Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex field hockey semifinal between Warren Hills and Voorhees was probably played a week early.
The way the brackets fell, the perennial state powers were matched up in one semifinal with Hackettstown and Hunterdon Central in the other semifinal.
Warren Hills and Voorhees played another one of their epic games Saturday with the Blue Streaks prevailing 2-1 by outscoring Voorhees 4-2 on penalty strokes.
Hunterdon Central edged Hackettstown 1-0 in the other semi, meaning Warren Hills and the Red Devils will play for the H/W/S title next Saturday at Hackettstown.
Warren Hills trounced Hunterdon Central 7-1 on Oct. 6.
“We (Warren Hills and Voorhees) are two very even teams,” Blue Streaks coach Kate Rothman said. “The worst part to me is that this game should have been the final. These two teams shouldn’t have played today.”
“This game had a finals atmosphere and this really should have been the final,” Voorhees coach Taylor Vidak said.
Voorhees captured the first meeting between the teams 2-1 in overtime on the Blue Streaks’ turf field on Sept. 15.
‘We won on their turf and they beat us on our grass,” Voorhees assistant coach Ann Bonavita said. “This should have been the final.”
Vidak says she hates to see such an important game between two great teams come down to strokes.
“It’s really unfortunate to have two teams of this caliber decide a game on strokes,” Vidak said. “I don’t think that’s the best way to do it, but that’s the way the rules are and you have to make the most of it.”
Voorhees’ Claire Whiston nearly won the game in the second overtime period but her apparent goal was nullified because of pushing violation.
“I didn’t see it (the push),” Vidak said. “It’s unfortunate because she made a great shot.”
On the surface, Warren Hills-Voorhees would have been the ultimate final. At the end of the day, you can only plays who’s on you scheduled and the Blue Streaks were up to the task on Saturday.
Tom Hinkel may be reached at thinkel@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomHinkelLV. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook