By Bria Irizarry
Twitter: @daathletics
Instagram: @dacavsathletics
We are in the final week of the regular season of Durham Academy fall sports, and our teams have already accomplished quite a bit. Boys cross-country earned a second-place finish in the Durham City-County Meet last Thursday against strong competition and on a very wet course. Girls cross- country placed fifth in the same meet, and 12 DA runners have set personal records in October. Both teams will compete in the Triangle Independent School Athletics Conference (TISAC) meet next week at WakeMed Park in Cary. Field hockey earned its first win of the season last week vs. Saint Mary’s School, as senior Molly Hunter and junior London Burnham notched goals for the Cavs.
Girls golf put the exclamation point on an undefeated season on Tuesday by defeating the defending state champion, North Raleigh Christian Academy, by just one shot for the second time this season. In the latest High School OT eastern NC rankings, boys soccer is No. 8, girls tennis is No. 14 and volleyball is No. 22. Boys soccer sits atop the TISAC and will compete in the last regular-season home game on Friday night vs. Cary Academy, while girls tennis is 7–0 in conference and riding a five-game win streak. Volleyball completed its sixth win in a row on Wednesday vs. Durham School of the Arts and celebrated junior Olivia Kohn, who reached 1,000 career assists in the team’s contest vs. Ravenscroft on Oct. 5.
This week’s Performance of the Week is brought to you by the DA boys soccer team, which earned its second win of the season over TISAC foe Ravenscroft in a nail-biter penalty kick shootout, 11–10. Despite two corner attempts by the Ravens and a free kick from just 25 yards out, the score remained 0–0 after the first 10 minutes of regulation. Ravenscroft continued to control the ball and the momentum in the first half, but junior goalkeeper Collin Thornburg and the defense fought back to minimize the Ravens’ opportunities on goal. Just before the half, the Cavs were awarded a corner kick, but they could not capitalize, sending the game to halftime at 0–0.
Minutes into the second half, Ravenscroft slipped one past Thornburg, but just seven minutes later, senior Diego Pastor-Valverde converted a penalty kick to put the Cavs on the board. Both teams possessed the ball and had chances on goal in the second half, but it wasn’t until the 83rd minute that the Ravens secured their second goal of the night. DA continued to fight, and with just 14 seconds left in regulation, senior Larkin Ng Cashin crossed the ball to junior Robert Hillhouse, who put it in the back of the net to tie the game at 2.
The game headed into overtime, and the Ravens maintained the momentum for the majority of the period but could not score. Heading into the second 10-minute overtime period, the game remained tied at 2. Senior Lars Oehler had an opportunity in the sixth minute of overtime, but ultimately neither team could convert and the game extended once more into penalty kicks.
Six Cavs and six Ravens went goal-for-goal to open the shootout. The seventh players from both teams missed their kicks, and the two teams went goal-for-goal four more times to tie the score at 10. On the 12th penalty kick of the night, sophomore James Robb sent his ball to the back of the net, and when Thornburg stepped up to face the 11th Ravens kicker, he made a diving save to the right to solidify the win for the Cavs! It was a memorable moment for DA, as it defeated the Ravens on the road and for the second time in the 2021 season.
⚽️Cavs win an epic battle in Raleigh. Hillhouse scores with 14 seconds left in regulation to tie and then DA takes an 11-10 PK shootout win. @highschoolot pic.twitter.com/OMaLcChjKZ
— Durham Academy Athletics (@daathletics) October 6, 2021
We are excited to cheer on all seven of our varsity teams as they head to the postseason. Here are some important upcoming dates:
Senior Nights
- Thursday, Oct. 14: Girls Tennis (4:15 p.m. vs. Cary Academy) and Boys/Girls Cross-Country (4 p.m. vs. Burlington School)
- Friday, Oct. 15: Volleyball (5:30 p.m. vs. Cary Academy in Kirby Gym) and Boys Soccer (7 p.m. vs. Cary Academy on Alumni Field)
Postseason
- Sunday, Oct. 17: Seeding and brackets released for NCISAA state tournaments
- Tuesday, Oct. 19: Girls Golf in the TISAC Championship (RGA Course in Raleigh)
- Thursday, Oct. 21: Boys/Girls Cross-Country in the TISAC Championship (WakeMed Park in Cary)
- Monday, Oct. 25: Girls Golf in the NCISAA Championship (Bryan Park in Greensboro)
- Friday, Oct. 29: Boys/Girls Cross-Country in the NCISAA Championship (Olsen Park in Wilmington)
- Saturday, Oct. 30: NCISAA State Championships for Field Hockey, Girls Tennis, Volleyball and Boys Soccer
Keeping Up with the Cavs
As always, you can keep up with the Cavs on Durham Academy’s website and the Durham Academy App (available on the Apple App Store).
- For a list of all teams, their schedules and directions to games, visit www.da.org/teams.
- Click on an individual team to subscribe to automatic alerts about athletics results, postponements and cancellations, calendar and athletic event reminders.
- All information about the daily athletics schedule is also available on DA’s Athletics Hotline: 919-489-2534 (ext. 5).
The DA App: Schedules and Results
- The DA App allows you to keep up with athletics wherever you are. You can download the app from iTunes at http://bit.ly/DACavaliers. The DA App pulls athletics content directly from the DA website and delivers it to iOS-based devices including iPhone and iPad.
- The Athletics portion of the DA App (after launching, click Menu, then click Athletics to open) features results of recent games, a list of upcoming contests and team records.