Scripps Ranch takes out Torrey Pines in CIF field hockey semi-final

Second-seeded Scripps Ranch did all of the scoring in the first 10 minutes of the game, beating visiting Torrey Pines, 2-0, in the semi-finals of the CIF Open Division field hockey tournament Thursday afternoon, Nov. 15. The loss ends the season for third-seeded Torrey Pines which finished 17-6-1 and co-champions of the Avocado West League.

“We didn’t show up right away and started off slow,” said Head Coach Lucy Busby, whose team had pre-game transportation issues that caused game time to be pushed back 15 minutes. “It took those two early goals to wake us up. I thought we held them after that and played pretty well.

“But Scripps Ranch is really talented, coached well and has good leadership on the field. Our team knew that and might have been playing a little defensively at first. It’s tough to get two goals behind against a team of that caliber and come back.”

Both of Scripps Ranch’s goals came off the stick of Megan Connors although the second looked to have ricocheted off one of the Torrey Pines defenders. The senior captain now has an astounding 43 on the season. “Every time she gets the ball, things happen,” said Busby afterwards.

The win vaults Scripps Ranch (24-2) into Saturday’s CIF title game against San Pasqual, a team that Torrey Pines defeated just one month ago. San Pasqual upended defending champion Serra in the other semi-final.

“I would have liked to have played San Pasqual again, but I know we went down fighting,” said Busby. “The two teams in the final deserve to be there.”

In Busby’s second year at the helm, the Falcons made it back-to-back invitations to the eight-team Open bracket and after exiting in the quarterfinal last fall, beat Poway to get one step further this year. Torrey Pines will lose just five seniors off its current squad.

“Truthfully, we shocked a lot of people because we were a very young team and with all the players we’d lost from the season before, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year,” said Busby. “The way we finished, competed and improved—as a coach, I’m proud of this team.”