Field Hockey: Top-seeded Dreadnaughts open up tonight (Oct. 22) in D-1 playoffs

And so it begins.

The Division 1 HS State Field Hockey Tournament kicks off on Tuesday, Oct. 22 and Dexter is one of several teams in the area expected to make a run at the title. Two-time defending champion Huron, Saline and always tough Pioneer also will field teams with state title aspirations.

The talented, experienced and determined Dreadnaughts – the No. 1 seed – open up at home on Tuesday, Oct. 22 against Detroit Country Day at Al Ritt Stadium. The quarterfinal game will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Other quarterfinal games include Novi at Pioneer (4:30 p.m.) and Grand Rapids Forest Hills at Saline (6 p.m.).

The winner of the Dexter-DCD game advances to a semifinal game at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24 against the winner of the Marion-Huron game at Ann Arbor Huron HS. The other semifinal game will be 4:30 p.m., also at Huron.

The MHSFHA State Finals are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 26 and will be hosted by Chelsea High School. The D-1 final is at 2 p.m.

WLD PHOTOGALLERY FROM DEXTER-SALINE

The Dreadnaughts are coming off a tough 1-0 loss to Pioneer last Monday.

“We took away lessons at both the individual and at the team levels,” says Dexter coach Trish Machemer.

The Dreads bounced right back with an impressive 5-2 win over the defending state champion Huron River Rats. The victory locked up the SEC Red title for the Dreadnaughts – there is only one division in field hockey. This is the inaugural year for field hockey as a SEC sport.

Junior Gracie Burns started the scoring for Dexter with a goal on corner play.  Senior Claire Vaughn added another corner goal. Senior Kylee Niswonger assisted on both those goals, and followed up with two goals of her own. Senior Abby Tamer drove in the  final goal for Dexter on a direct shot.

MHSFHA realignment for the 2019 season shrank the size of Division 1 and made the Division 2 tournament larger. All divisions in MHSFHA are performance based.

For Division 1 schedule information visit the D1 Playoff page found at mhsfieldhockey.com

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