Sports
Field Hockey Defeated by North Branford and Hamden
Coach Sara Hale: "Our inability to get going has created a lot of problems for us."
If she could, Amity field hockey Coach Sara Hale would probably forget last week ever existed. Her stickers not only lost matches to North Branford and Hamden, they were shut out in both contests. Following a 2-0 loss to North Branford, Hamden thrashed the Lady Spartans 6-0. Those two set backs dropped Amity’s record to 3-8.
According to Hale, “We got off to a slow start against North Branford and had a hard time picking up the pace. On top of that, we also had a hard time putting the ball into the net. To make maters worse, the shots we do take are very weak and easily cleared away by the defense. Our inability to get going has created a lot of problems for us.”
The undefeated Thunderbirds (now 10-0) outshot Amity 9-2 and scored a goal in each half. Bailey McGinnis found the Lady Spartan net with 19 minutes, 56 seconds gone in the first half. McGinnis made it 2-0 when she scored again at 9:38 of the second half.
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Amity goalie Hannah Bercovici recorded seven saves.
Hale did praise senior defender Alicia Cardella for her sturdy efforts.
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She said, “Alicia got some good free hits, which enabled us to move the ball up field. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capitalize on the few scoring opportunities we did have.”
Things went from bad to worse for the Black and Gold when they faced off with Hamden. The 8-1-2 Green Dragons scored all 6 goals in the first half and four of those scores came in the first 10 minutes of play. The winners outshot Amity 16-5. Savannah Reilly banged home three goals and added an assist. Zoe Fanolis and Melanie Worsencroft-Marshall each had a trio of assists.
Bercovici was credited with making seven saves.
“Once again, we had a slow start and Hamden was able to score four goals in 10 minutes. It wasn’t pretty. At times, we were our own worst enemy. We didn’t get our sticks down. With them up in the air, we couldn’t stop the ball. After giving up six goals in the first half, I was pleased that we did keep Hamden scoreless in the second half,” Hale said.
She went on to insist that junior Sydney DeStefano was the only Lady Spartan that was able to stop the ball and set up a handful of offensive opportunities.
The Black and Gold host Sacred Heart Friday at 4 p.m.
