Rutters personal redemption propels Westminster field hockey to an overtime victory

When the fourth quarter ended in a tie with Manchester Valley Tuesday, Westminster forward Carmen Rutters couldn’t help thinking back to the last overtime field hockey game she had played a year ago.

That time, she missed a shot to win the game. This time, she made it.

Just 1:16 into overtime, Rutters had her back to Mavericks’ goalie Charlotte Schurman when the ball came across the circle. She slipped a reverse stick shot around her right side past the screened keeper to give the No. 12 Owls a 3-2 victory in a Carroll County league game at No. 15 Manchester Valley.

Rutters leaped into the air as her teammates surrounded her.

“I was so relieved,” she said with a laugh. “My stomach just sank. I was so happy for me and my team that we got to pull it off. It felt really good.”

The senior had a hand in every Owls goal Tuesday afternoon, finishing with two goals and one assist, but overtime is a bit more nerve wracking for her.

“Sometimes I do a little reverse, but every time I do it, I get nervous,” Rutters said, “so halfway through the shot, I was like, ‘Oh, this better go in.’ This was my one chance to redeem myself and take the opportunity to make it count.”

While the Owls (5-1) were playing in their first league game, the Mavericks (4-1) had already beaten South Carroll also in overtime, 1-0, last week.

With teams pared down to six field players and a goalie in overtime, goals can come quickly.

“That’s what you want, to get the ball up field and score as soon as possible,” said Mavericks coach Denean Koontz. “Our goalie was on the other side of the cage and they crossed it over, so she didn’t have time and she wasn’t able to get to the weak side of the cage on the cross.”

The Mavericks had many chances to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get a shot past the Owls defense after Amanda Herrold tied the game at 2-2 with 12:52 left. In the final seven minutes, the Mavericks had six penalty corners and took seven shots, six of them on goal.

Owls goalie Andra Hull made five of her 11 saves against those corners and defender Brinley Tozer blocked a shot. Miranda Moshang and Stevie Schultz also had strong defensive efforts to hold off the Mavericks.

“Our defense did a good job, just kept fighting and trying to get the ball out even though we kept creating the fouls,” Westminster coach Laurie Naill said. “They kept sticking with it and that’s all you can do when you get corner after corner after corner after corner.”

Naill had been a little concerned about how much intensity the Owls would muster after not having played a game last week, but they scored first and had the Mavericks playing catchup again later in the game.

In the first quarter, the Owls scored almost as quickly as they did in overtime. Rutters took a crossing pass from Jess Kent and sent it back across the circle to Caroline Beakes for a 1-0 lead in less than two minutes.

The Mavericks answered on Ashley Mountcastle’s penalty stroke with 10:36 left in the quarter.

After halftime, the Owls scored quickly again when Schultz sent a long ball forward, setting up Rutters and Kent for the textbook give-and-go against one defender. Rutters scored with 12:08 left in the third quarter for a 2-1 lead that would last until early in the fourth quarter.

Last season, the Owls and the Mavericks were both state semifinalists, the Owls in Class 3A and the Mavericks in Class 2A and each appears well able to make another run at a title, so this was a big win for Westminster, whose only loss was to South River at the Seahawks Tournament on Sept. 3.

“In county, Man Valley has always been a rival to us,” Kent said, “and last year, we actually went into overtime with them and we won, so, of course, we wanted to win again. We weren’t that high intensity through the whole game, but when it came to sudden victory, we knew we had to step up and we really came together as a team in the last two minutes when we scored.”

NO. 12 WESTMINSTER 3, NO. 15 MANCHESTER VALLEY 2, OT

WE 1 0 1 0 1 — 3

MV 1 0 0 1 0 — 2

GOALS: WE—Carmen Rutters 2, Caroline Beakes; MV—Ashley Mountcastle, Amanda Herrold.

ASSISTS: WE—Carmen Rutters, Jess Kent; MV—none.

SAVES: WE—Andra Hull 11; MV—Charlotte Schurman 3.

An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Westminster player Stevie Schultz.

More From The Banner

The developer of Harborplace bought 128 rowhomes in East Baltimore

One Baltimore County developer is pouring big money into local politics

Larry Lucchino, visionary behind Camden Yards construction, dies at 78

Dundalk was a steel town. When the Key Bridge fell, so did its legacy.