By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

Whitman Coach Mary Pat Veihmeyer has coached field hockey for 29 years and she still hates penalty strokes.

After all, that’s what knocked Whitman out of last year’s playoffs and this year Whitman headed into penalty strokes once again – against the same team.

“I dread stokes,” Veihmeyer said. “They’re just so stressful.”

This time, Whitman won. Senior Maya Herm scored the only successful stroke in a second set of five strokes, giving the Vikings a 1-0 win over Wootton in Tuesday’s 4A South playoff action. The two teams played to a 0-0 tie after regulation and two overtimes.

Last season Wootton knocked off Whitman in the first set of strokes.

“This was unbelievable, jeez,” said Veihmeyer, who will retired from coaching field hockey at the end of this season.  “It was kind of great that it was Maya because she’s been a bit of a scoring slump.”

Herm, who has been selected to play in the U.S. Futures field hockey team, hadn’t scored since Oct. 14 against Watkins Mill. The Vikings also got a big performance from goalie Hillary Wall, who made 17 saves on 22 shots.

Whitman (8-5) will face undefeated Blake next.