It was a busy afternoon, with Bishop O’Connell High School girls teams playing in three different state-tournament contests at home last Tuesday (Nov. 5).
In the end, O’Connell teams won all three — soccer, field hockey and volleyball — to advance in the Division I private-school state competitions.
O’Connell athletic administrators don’t remember the high school having ever hosted as many state-tourney games on the same afternoon.
The initial game was a state-semifinal soccer match against the Potomac School Panthers at 1 p.m. on the football field. O’Connell won 2-0.
Next was a quarterfinal field-hockey match against St. Paul VI Catholic on the same field.
That contest started quickly after soccer, a little after 3 p.m., because the football field has no lighting and sunset would be occurring shortly after 5 p.m.
The field switchover from soccer to field hockey was done quickly, with even O’Connell head of school Bill Crittenberger, a former coach of multiple sports, helping to set up one of the field-hockey goals.
O’Connell triumphed over both Paul VI and sundown, winning 3-1 before lighting became an issue.
As the field-hockey event was ending, a state-quarterfinal volleyball match against Paul VI already had begun inside the O’Connell gymnasium. The Knights won, 3-0.
