Mount Notre Dame field hockey had to overcome some adversity to start its season.
Senior midfielder Hannah Schneider tore her MCL at the end of August, and the Cougars have had to adapt ever since. Midfielder Maya Little has stepped in to fill Schneider’s spot this year, scoring three goals and helping the Cougars to a 14-3 record.
Despite missing one of its seniors and playmakers, Mount Notre Dame has overcome that injury to reach its second state semifinal in three years.
The Cougars reached the semifinals this season after earning a 1-0 win against Oakwood in the Southwest Regional final. That matchup was a rematch of Mount Notre Dame’s season opener, in which the Cougars beat Oakwood by the same score.
The Cougars were able to get the Oakwood goalie out of position with a lot of movement before Maddie Jones passed to Taylor Shafto for the winning goal with under three minutes left in the game. It was Jones’ team-leading 13th assist this season, and it was the second time this season Shafto scored a winning goal against Oakwood. Shafto leads the Cougars with 12 goals.
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“This team, this whole year, we’d say they’ve had a lot of grit to get through a lot of tough games,” Mount Notre Dame coach Sarah Pisciotta said. “We’ve had a lot of nail-biters and, somehow, they find a way. They look within themselves and persevere through a lot of challenging games we’ve had.”
Seven of the Cougars’ 17 games this season have been decided by one goal.
After being tied at halftime against Oakwood in the regional final, Maria Coffaro, one of the team’s captains, gathered the Cougars and reminded them that even though they were hoping to be winning by then, it was still a tied game and they controlled their own destiny. That communication paid off, as it has all season.
After losing Schneider so early, that type of communication is something the Cougars said they’ve had to rely on often throughout the season, both on and off the field.
“(The focus was) a lot more talking because Hannah is a big playmaker and without her, we had to think through a lot more and we had to talk through it.
“... Seeing her go down was obviously a big stressor because a few years ago, she had already torn her meniscus, so we’d lost her previously. And when we lose a player like that, it’s kind of like losing a family member, and it’s just sad.”
Playing for Schneider has worked so far.
Mount Notre Dame has won nine of its last 10 games. For the year, the Cougars have shut out 12 of their 17 opponents, thanks to a strong backline and Ainsley Kemp’s performances in-goal.
“Having a goalie that we trust so much does so much for our confidence,” Coffaro said. “It gives us one less thing we need to worry about. And we try our absolute hardest that she never has to touch the ball, but we know that if she does, she has our backs just like we have hers.”
Rematches seem to be a theme of these playoffs for the Cougars. Mount Notre Dame will meet defending champion Bishop Watterson on Thursday in the state semifinals.
Bishop Watterson is the last team to beat Mount Notre Dame, handing the Cougars a 5-1 loss Oct. 2. Bishop Watterson enters the game with a 17-0-1 record, with its last loss coming Oct. 5, 2020, against Thomas Worthington. Since then, Bishop Watterson is unbeaten over its last 25 games, winning 24 of them. Mount Notre Dame knows it won’t be an easy task to end that streak.
“It was a challenging game, the first time we saw Watterson in the regular season,” Pisciotta said. “But I think it’s really good for our girls to have played against them previously because we kind of know what to expect of it. … They have a great team, and so the girls come in with the mindset almost as the underdogs, which isn’t a horrible thing because we know we have to work all week long in practice and do everything in our powers to improve from the last time we saw them.”
Having been in this same position in 2019, Mount Notre Dame hopes to use that past experience to its advantage this week as it pursues a state championship.
“I think the excitement that we had going into that (2019) game will really benefit us,” Jones said. “Now, we know what it’s like and how much fun it is. Even though it’s going to be a really tough game, we know the excitement and how hard we have to play and how hard we’re going to play together in order to play our best on Thursday.”
For Pisciotta, a win in the state championship would be a special moment. Pisciotta graduated from Mount Notre Dame in 2015, where she played on a state semifinalist field hockey team as a senior. This is her third year coaching Mount Notre Dame, as she joined the team after returning to the Cincinnati area in 2019 upon graduating from Miami University, where she played club field hockey.
“It’s really been fun to coach (the team). I mean, this is my third year coaching at MND and I graduated from MND, so going through the postseason is just a fun experience and I’m happy to make it as awesome for the girls as possible.”
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