By Andy Walter

FREDERICA — Three months ago, in the August heat, Smyrna High’s field hockey players dreamed of this kind of moment.

On a cold, November night, the Eagles made it come true.

Third-seeded Smyrna tallied the first two goals of the contest before downing No. 2 Wilmington Charter, 3-1, in the DIAA Division I state semifinals at DE Turf.

The victory sends the Eagles (13-3) to the program’s first state championship game where they will face Henlopen North rival Cape Henlopen, which is no stranger to the state finals.

Top-seeded Cape downed No. 5 Polytech, 8-1, in Tuesday’s first semifinal to reach the state title game for the fifth straight year and for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons.

The Vikings will try to make it five straight state crowns in the title game on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at Dover High. Cape beat Smyrna, 4-1, during the regular season.

The Eagles, though, are pretty excited to be getting the opportunity.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said senior midfielder Maddie Simpson. “I mean we’ve been working toward this since day one of pre-season. I feel like our hard work is finally showing to our fans and everyone else.

“I think that we knew that we had a lot of talent on the team. We knew that were going to be obstacles to overcome and I think we’ve definitely done that this year.”

“After we got the first couple big wins under our belt, I think our coaching staff knew we had something special,” said first-year Smyrna coach Loveita Moffett. “The girls bought in right away. They were willing to work their tails off six days a week. Every minute we could possibly use according to DIAA rules we used.

“It didn’t matter what obstacles were thrown at us, the girls were very resilient. They basically willed their way. I’m getting chills just saying it because I’m so very proud of their hard work and their belief in one another.”

Simpson scored the contest’s first goal with 7:16 left in the second quarter when she smacked in a low, hard shot from the right side. The senior then back-handed in a shot from the right side of the cage with 10:43 remaining in the third quarter.

The goal, which was assisted by sophomore Dru Moffett, gave the Eagles an important 2-0 advantage.

Smyrna needed that cushion when the Force’s Natalie Fusco knocked in a rebound with just 4.5 seconds left in the third quarter.

But Moffett scored on a long backhand shot with 11:53 left in the game to give the Eagles some extra breathing room at 3-1.

Smyrna finished with decisive advantages of 14-3 in shots and 10-1 in corners. Sophomore goalie Halle Geiger made a pair of stops, including a big kick save with 5:53 on the clock.

Smyrna knows it will be considered the underdog in Saturday’s state championship game but that’s not going to stop the Eagles from trying to pull off the upset.

“We know they’re good,” said Simpson. “But we’re ready. I think we’re fine with being the underdog.”

“I tell them anything can happen in a championship game,” Moffett said about her players. “Anything can happen. We have literally been preparing to play Cape every day.

“I mean I don’t bring it to their attention every day. But, from a coaching standpoint, we’ve been preparing. When you play in this conference, you know you’ve got to beat Cape to win the whole thing. It’s not rocket science to know that they’re going to be at the top.”

Cape Henlopen 8, Polytech 1: The victory was the fourth for Cape (16-2) over Polytech (9-7-1) in the last two years.

The two Henlopen North rivals met in last year’s Division I state finals.

The Vikings are now 79-8 since 2017 with seven of their eight losses coming against Division II power Delmar.

Cape Henlopen, which led 3-0 at halftime, got goals from eight different players in Tuesday’s win: Samantha Connors (1 assist), Emma Duffield, Reagan Ciabattoni (2 assists), Noelle Sabbagh, Ella Rishko, Mackinzie Brown, Louise Rishko and Elaina Best.

The Vikings finished with advantages of 27-1 in shots and 25-1 in corners.

Cape coach Kate Austin said the Vikings don’t want to take anything for granted just because they beat a team during the regular season.

“The message we send is everything can change in the tournament,” she said. “It’s a whole new season. It doesn’t matter what the score was first time, stats don’t matter. None of that matters when you go from the regular season to the tournament.

“We really stress that every day.”

Polytech got a fourth-quarter goal from sophomore Kylee LaVere and 15 saves from Raegan Thomas.