In their last and hottest game of the season, SCDS tied 1-1 with Buckingham on April 30, which was also Senior Night.
It was 90℉ at halftime, so players and spectators dumped water on themselves as the game continued.
A dozen freshman and sophomore boys and several Buckingham and SCDS families cheered for the entire game. Several people filmed it.
In the first half, sophomore Natalie Brown got a yellow card for tripping a Lady Knight from behind.
The first half ended with no one scoring, and junior America Lopez left to prepare for Open House.
At halftime, Cavs’ coach George Champayne honored two senior Cavs who played on the team for four years, Melissa Vazquez and Micaela Bennett-Smith. Champayne gave roses and a short speech for each player.
“These two seniors were the heart of the team this year,” Champayne said.
Champayne thanked Vazquez for helping organize players when he was absent.
“(Vazquez) does everything I can’t do at school with the players,” Champayne said.
Champayne told Bennett-Smith that he will miss coaching the Bennett-Smith family.
Champayne also gave roses to eight senior Lady Knights.
“Buckingham is one of the best teams in the league, and Country Day always looks forward to them,” Champayne said during his speech.
Lady Knights’ coach Thong Lee told Champayne that SCDS is Buckingham’s favorite team to play every year.
After the ceremony, Lee told his players to “keep up the fire and intensity.”
They did. At the beginning of the second half, the Lady Knights fought back and pushed around the Cavs. Sophomore Kaeleigh Valverde told the Lady Knight who was guarding her to stop pushing while they tussled for the ball. Later, Valverde surprisingly got a yellow card. Whenever freshman Evann Rudek would approach the goal, Lady Knights kicked at her legs to make her fall.
Brown made the first goal after Rudek passed across the field in the middle of the second half.
Lee smacked his hands together and called out to his players whenever the Cavs regained possession. When a Lady Knight made a goal in the last 10 minutes of the game, Lee quieted down.
Both the Cavs and the Lady Knights were struggling to keep sprinting as the second half ended, but Brown managed to make a shot in the last two minutes that hit against the goal’s outside post and bounced out. The entire crowd got on their feet and were uncontrollable for the rest of the game.
There were 19 Cavs (not including freshman Annya Dahmani, who sat on the sidelines with Champayne because she had broken her collarbone in a previous game) and 19 Lady Knights at the game.
This was also the Lady Knights’ final game, so players on both teams high-fived and hugged each other on their way out.
