Obezags stitch together a championship; Key corners Friends for IAAM C Conference title

Absolutely nothing was easy for Key on the road to playoff glory.

The predominately sophomore team played is final two regular-season weeks laden with games and makeups, completely knackered heading into the postseason.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, bad luck struck the Obezags on the bus ride over. A knitting needle to the ankle sent one player to the emergency room, as well as a horribly bad feeling in the minds' of the rest - "traumatic," coach Jen Langdon said - especially as the freak accident meant Key was late to warm-ups as well.

"We had 20 minutes to get in our head that we were going to play a hockey game and we were going to win it," Langdon said.

But when the Obezags stepped off the bus, they were just 90 minutes away from hoisting the IAAM C trophy.

Key (12-6) capitalized on three corners to secure the IAAM C field hockey title - its first since 2015 - by upsetting top-ranked Friends 3-1 on Sunday.

For the three seniors, the victory was a perfect bookend to their high school careers. All three had their first taste of winning a title three years ago, as freshmen on the 2015 champion team.

Senior defender Delaney Snowden was one of them. On Sunday, she led Key with two second-half goals for go-ahead and insurance, after sophomore forward Addison Neise broke the ice with her first-half goal.

"My last game as a senior was a national championship win. I feel like that really closed it off, correctly seal a chapter off in my life," Langdon said. "For them, I feel like it gives them a sense of closure that they've put everything into it."

Key saw fruition on its very first corner. After crowding the circle and applying pressure to Friends goalkeeper Grace Bowen, the Obezags drew the penalty. After Sophia Petrini loosed, Elizabeth Hughes picked up the ball in the open and lined in her shot.

It was caught by Quakers' sticks at the mouth, which is when sophomore Addison Neise came in handy. The forward excavated the ball from the scrum and tapped it in for Key's first goal with 20:55 on the clock.

Friends then turned the stove on keeper Angela Harris (five saves), earning a string of four-straight corners and a fifth one to boot. But at the end of it, Key was strong in the backfield, keeping its lead.

But the Quakers' misfortune couldn't last forever.

On their sixth, Friends attacked Harris at the cage. Sophomore Sophia Kessenich cut to senior midfielder Sofia Geocadin, who potted the equalizer to make it 1-1.

Key had a response by way of Snowden, who mashed a shot into goal - and off Bowen's body. The Quakers were able to intercept the Obezags' every attempt at scoring from then on, and on the last Key corner of the half, at 19 seconds, the Friends' defense would push Snowden's shot just outside.

"I just take shots and take shots and take shots until they get into the goal," she said.

At the half, the two were uncomfortably even. As "Party in the USA" blared over Archbishop Spalding's stadium, the Obezags gathered, closed their eyes and meditated, visualizing how sweet it would be to be the champions in the next 30 minutes.

"I think it was just we talked about heart and mental game, that's really helped us rise above," Langdon said.

As Snowden would say, they "materialized it."

From the gates, though, it was Friends badgering the Key defense. The Quakers drew three corners in the first six minutes and mostly kept action in the Obezag zone in the early going.

Then, a stroke of luck - Key drew its first corner of the second half.

Petrini settled and released; Snowden scooped it up in the middle of the circle and fired. Her ball glided past a line of Friends defense, and the keeper. Goal.

Up 2-1, Key's offense had a more assertive look to them in the last quarter of the game. So they kept the ball rolling in Friends' end of things for a change.

The Obezags picked up another corner and sent their faith Snowden's way. The senior swung, her shot hitting the back of the net - 3-1.

Facing an empty-handed ride back to Baltimore thick with Sunday afternoon traffic, 10 minutes and some change was all the Quakers had to change things.

Friends added a little flair to its fight, drawing two straight corners with a minute and a half on the clock. Junior Maren Helmacy took the shot, but it zipped just wide.

"We were really determined to put this together and get this win, and it happened," Snowden said.

And then it was over. And the Obezags, with grins on their faces, could finally, finally relax.

"We had to overcome everything, and that's entirely mental," Langdon said. "Even the last couple minutes - previous games, we let them get in a goal at the end of half ... Just continuing to improve that has pushed us to the end - to win."

Credit: By Katherine Fominykh - [email protected]

Caption: Key celebrates its 3-1 win over Friends in the IAAMM C Conference field hockey championship game = Sunday.

Steve Ruark/for Capital Gazette