The Sachem East field hockey team has business to take care of. The last two years they took bus rides to Cicero North High in Syracuse and came back as state champions. They expect to do the same thing again for a third time this weekend.
They’d be the first field hockey team from Long Island to three-peat as a state champion since the Centereach teams from the 1980s which Sachem East coach Tina Moon was a member of.
The girls left the high school Friday morning with an escort from the Farmingville Fire Department to the Long Island Expressway. Sachem Athletic Director Pete Blieberg made sure the escort was in place, just as it was the last two years.
“I’m superstitious,” he said. “We need that and we’ll be just fine up there.”
They’ll be fine regardless as the Arrows pack one of the most talented groups of young field hockey athletes on a roster that you’ll see in the Northeast. The Arrows (20-0) are 63-1 over the last three seasons and have won 49 straight games.
Their first challenge is Kingston (16-0-1) in the state semifinals on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The championship will be on Sunday.
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro