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Sports |
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| Prep Field Hockey: Cavaliers continue to improve |
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| By Barry L. Silverman, Times Correspondent |
Friday, October 09, 2009 |
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WINFIELD — Anyone who takes South Carroll’s field hockey team lightly could be in for a big surprise.
Though the Cavaliers started off the season 1-2, losing only to undefeated Century and Westminster, they are a squad that is rapidly improving behind a tough defense and the experience of 11 seniors.
The Cavs used every bit of that defense and experience to stifle a good North Carroll team 1-0 on Thursday.
“These are two evenly-matched teams,” said Cavs coach Ashley Bacon. “But our defense played great and that made the difference today.”
Bacon had special praise for senior midfielders Brie Smith, Danielle DeColli and Jen Tompkins, who along with juniors Erin Slifer and Emily Carlin kept their sticks on the ball and stopped the Panthers from mounting any kind of charge.
“All of our girls work very hard in practice,” Bacon said. “And it all paid off with a victory.”
Even so, NC managed to control the bulk of the action in the first half, but could only muster three shots on goal.
In the second half, the SC offense asserted itself as Slifer put her stick on a Panther pass in the scoring circle and deftly dribbled past two defenders to within four feet of the cage, where she shot and scored at the 24:33 mark.
“Dodging defenders is something I’ve really worked on,” Slifer said. “It felt good to get that goal.”
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That was all the scoring NC would need.
Throughout the second half, the SC offense and defense kept the ball away from the Panthers’ side of the field, allowing only one shot on goal with about 10 seconds left in the game. During one 10-minute stretch, NC could not get across midfield as the Cavs used their speed and experience to head off any charge downfield.
“We practiced a lot on carrying the ball out of the circle,” Bacon said. “That helped us control the tempo of the game.
Bacon noted that this is a much different team than the one that started practice back in August.
“It’s starting to come together,” she said. “Today, we passed, communicated and played smart.”
For Panthers coach Denean Koontz, it’s a matter of getting back to practice and work on generating more of an attack.
“We had our opportunities,” Koontz said. “But we had trouble finding open people.”
This has been a thorny problem for the Panthers who have lost their last two games by one goal each.
“If we’re going to be successful, we need to capitalize when we get in the circle,” she said.
The Panthers drop to 2-3 in the county and 6-3 overall, and look to rebound next week against Francis Scott Key.
The Cavs, who improved to 2-2 in the county and 6-3 overall, will next meet Winters Mill, which also has two county losses.
“This team tries to get better with every practice and every game,” Bacon said. “We’re excited about the rest of the season.”
Goals: SC-Erin Slifer
Assists: None
Saves: SC- 3 (Brooke Leppo) , NC- 6 (Breanne Lippy)
Halftime: 0-0
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