The Dublin Jerome High School field hockey team battled evenly with top-seeded Watterson during the first half of a district semifinal on Oct. 28 at Watterson, with each squad attempting four shots on goal.

But the Eagles did a better job of capitalizing on their opportunities on the way to a 3-0 halftime lead and a 7-0 victory.

Watterson advanced to the state's final four after defeating Bexley 3-0 last Saturday.

Jerome finished 10-8.

"We had our chances in the first half and we didn't finish them, and that's how it's been for us in big games all year," senior midfielder Eloise Irwin said. "Obviously, Watterson's good. They do a phenomenal job of finishing in the circle, and they have a lot of depth, which made the difference in the second half."

The Celtics beat Scioto 4-0 on Sept. 3 and won their last three regular-season games, defeating Coffman 2-1 on Oct. 7, Hartley 2-0 on Oct. 13 and Olentangy Orange 7-1 on Oct. 14.

Jerome then downed Columbus School for Girls 5-2 in its district tournament opener Oct. 21, as junior forward Gabby Marotta scored three goals, Irwin scored twice and junior goalkeeper Carrie Mount had one save.

"Beating Coffman and Scioto was the highlight of our regular season," Irwin said. "It was nice to win a tournament game, too."

The Celtics will lose five seniors, including starters Irwin, Allie Corvese (forward) and Caitlin Staskiewicz (defender). Irwin had seven goals and 10 assists, and Corvese scored seven goals.

Starters who are expected to return are Mount, Marotta, sophomore forwards Kaleigh Finnegan and Alaina Nogar, junior midfielder Hayley Berg, sophomore midfielder Bella Demelo, junior defender Lauren McManamon and sophomore defender Allie Arnold.

Marotta scored 18 goals and three assists, and Mount had 133 saves and allowed 38 goals.

"Our seniors' skill level came a long way from where it was their freshman year and they were good leaders," coach Colleen Quinn said. "But we've got the bulk of our starters coming back, so we'll be a much more experienced team next year."

• Scioto lost to Columbus Academy 3-0 in a district semifinal Oct. 26.

Sophomore goalie Katie Pezzot had 34 saves for the Irish, who finished 7-8-2 after going 4-10-3 last year.

"We surprised a lot of people by hanging with Academy the way we did," coach Jason Perlman said. "It was only 1-0 at halftime. We just couldn't capitalize on our scoring chances."

The Irish started 4-2-1, before winning only two of their final eight regular-season games.

But Scioto beat Olentangy 2-0 in its district opener Oct. 21, as senior forward Hope Brower scored twice and Pezzot had eight saves. Olentangy had beaten Scioto 3-2 on Oct. 1.

"Beating Olentangy was a big deal because it was the first time any of our players have won a tournament game," Perlman said. "In all honesty, we should have beat Olentangy during the regular season, but I think we were going through the growing pains of having a new coach and playing in a new system."

The Irish will lose eight senior starters in forwards Taylor Bush, Hope Brower, Erin Heldman and Courtney Shade, midfielders Jessica Skillman, Emily Temple and Reana Thomas and defender Hannah Miller.

Four players who started multiple games are expected to come back in Pezzot, junior forward Megan Baron, and junior defenders Sam Colello and Danielle Livingston.

"The biggest thing we need to do in the offseason is recruit players to replace our seniors," Perlman said. "Hopefully, interest is going to be high in our team because of the success we had this year."

• Coffman opened district tournament play with a 1-0 loss to Hartley on Oct. 21 to finish 3-10-1.

The Shamrocks went 3-3-1 in games in which they scored, as they beat Scioto 1-0 on Sept. 29, Olentangy Orange 4-0 on Oct. 1 and Lancaster 5-1 on Oct. 5.

Senior midfielder Sarah Bergaman scored the winning goal against Scioto.

But Coffman was shut out seven times and scored only 14 goals.

"Hartley didn't out-play us, but they happened to get a goal and we didn't finish our chances," coach Kristy McLean said. "We played great games against Bexley (a 3-0 loss on Sept. 9), Jerome and Olentangy Liberty (a 2-0 loss on Oct. 12), but we just fell short in each of them. I feel like we could have won some of our closer games, but everything just lined up for the other teams to win."

The Shamrocks will lose five senior starters in defender Bridget Lemieux, midfielders Bergaman and Arianna Gianakopoulos, and forwards Elizabeth Jones and Kate Sherry.

Six starters are expected to come back in junior goalkeeper Sarah Lemieux, junior midfielders Jessica Fusco and Shelby Hermann, junior defenders Allison Grey and Megan Zeid and sophomore midfielder Kaitlin Minnick.

"We're going to have 10 seniors next year, so we'll bank on our experience to carry us through a good season," McLean said.