"Fiery," Polley said.

Fiery it must have been because the 18-1 Hurricanes, led by Caroline Troncelliti's second straight hat trick, exploded for all their scores in the second half en route to a 6-1 win over the fourth-seeded Spartans (14-4).

"We just weren't staying with the ball," Polley said of Villa's first-half performance. That, of course, prompted her halftime speech.

By beating the Spartans, Villa earned a spot Saturday in the district championship game against Sacred Heart, a winner over Upper Perkiomen in yesterday's other Class AA semifinal.

It was a much more motivated Villa team that took the field for the second half. Troncelliti, an 11-goal scorer in her last five games, put the Hurricanes on the scoreboard less than three minutes into the half. She fired the ball into the open cage when goalie Maggie Olson came out on a challenge.

Villa continued the pressure with a pair of offensive penalty corners in the next two minutes only to come up empty. Troncelliti made it 2-1 at just under the 23-minute mark on a pass from Marie Elena Bolles.

"I'm just there to finish it," the sophomore forward and midfielder said after her three-goal day. "My teammates just made some perfect passes to me."

Senior Molly Murphy set up her freshman sister, Meghan, for the next Villa goal. Then it was junior Samantha Ostoich for a pair of goals in less than three minutes to make it 5-1.

"We had to dig down after that first half," Molly Murphy said. "I don't think we were playing that badly" in the first half, "but nothing was going our way."

Troncelliti tallied her last goal, on another pass from Bolles, with less than a minute to play.

Springfield's goal came when Ellie Field converted on a penalty stroke shortly before halftime. Goalie Anna Zarkoski was charged with dangerous use of her hand pad while deflecting a high shot.

Longtime coach Linda Nixon, who returned to take over the team this season while Katie Coll is on maternity leave, said the Spartans weren't ready to play in the second half.

"We stopped playing and made it infinitely easier for them," Nixon said. "I told them Villa would be tenacious. We only played one half."

Springfield 1 0 - 1

Villa Maria 0 6 - 6

Goals: S-Ellie Field. VMA-Caroline Troncelliti 3, Samantha Ostoich 2, Meghan Murphy.

Saves: S-Maggie Olson 7, Julia Boles 3. VMA-Anna Zarkoski 5.