The Pine Bush field hockey team struck first, but the Kingston Tigers struck more, as the Tigers once again stood between the Bushmen and the Section 9 Class A championship.

Kingston’s Mattingly Logan scored off an assist from Emily Beichert with 2:24 remaining in the game to break a tie as the Tigers defeated the Bushmen, 2-1, on Thursday night at Taconic Hills High School.

The Bushmen and Tigers are the only two field hockey teams in Class A and a meeting between the two of them in the Section 9 championship game is an annual occurrence, with the Tigers dominating the season series.

It was the first attempt by first-year coach Samantha Schwartz to unseat the Tigers.
Her team got off to a strong start as Meaghan Wishinski put the Bushmen on the board with 8:54 remaining in the second quarter, giving them a brief 1-0 lead.

The lead lasted slightly more than three minutes as Kingston’s Emily Beichert drove home the equalizer to tie the game at 1-1.

It stayed that way until halftime, and the two teams played a scoreless third quarter, just like the opening 15 minutes. They were also well on their way to a scoreless fourth quarter until Beichert helped break the Bushmen’s hearts in the game’s final three minutes.

Beichert set up the Tigers’ game winning with about three minutes to go when she brought the ball down the field and found Logan, who finally got a shot past Pine Bush goalkeeper Grace Grant to break the longstanding 1-1 tie.

Even though it took until nearly the end of regulation for Kingston to get the game-winner, they had been knocking on the door for most of the fourth quarter.

Beichert sent a shot toward the cage that Grant deflected and rebounded to Pepper Platte, who sent the rebounded shot back toward Grant, who made another save.

Shortly after that, Beichert took a penalty corner that went wide right. On another flurry in front of the goal, Grant made two more saves to keep the game tied.

The Tigers will move on to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association regional championship game on Sunday between the winners of the subregional game between the Section 1 and 2 champions.

The Bushmen finished the season with an 8-6-0 record, finishing the season with two straight losses. After winning three straight games to end the regular season, they lost in the October 17 Mid Hudson Athletic League semifinals to Rondout Valley, who beat them three times. They also lost to the Tigers on October 4.