As the sun fell behind the bleachers and the giant lights powered up to illuminate the field, the energy amongst 20 girls, two coaches, one dog, and a smattering group of fans could be found anxiously rising in preparation for the game.
Losing the game would have taken the team out of the running for States making this game a vital victory for the lady Wreckers.
“Would you rather be sore or sorry tomorrow?” yelled one of the varsity co-captains, Elizabeth Coogan ’14.
Fortunately “sorry” is something that no one on the Staples’ varsity field hockey team will be feeling in the days after this game.
Jenna McNicholas ’15 scored the first goal within the first six minutes of the game with a breakaway shot. Any doubts the lady Wreckers had were chased away with the now confident cheers and congratulatory embraces displayed on the field.
For the visiting team, the scoreboard sat frozen at zero. The Staples’ defense made sure that Ludlowe never felt the satisfaction of watching the ball go through the Wrecker’s goalie. Ludlowe continually shot the ball down the field, but defense was consistently there to block them from shooting.
At halftime the score was still 1-0, and the team was ready to score again.
“I’m so hungry for a goal,” said assistant coach Kristen Schultz during her pep talk.
Elizabeth Bennewitz ’15 took it upon herself to end Schultz’s hunger and with 13 minutes left in the game, she aggressively shot straight through the Ludlowe defense for another goal.
This was the game changing moment according to Coogan.
“When Witz [Bennewitz] hit the goal on the corner, hearing the ‘pew’ of the ball off the backboard, that right there is when I knew we were going to win.”
The rest of the game was full of impressive hits, passes, and dribbles from every person on the team as they worked together to keep the ball from ever rolling anywhere near the defending goal.
“It was a great game. End of story,” said head coach Ashley del Vecchio.
The field hockey team now has to win the next three games in order to qualify for States. Their next game is home, Monday, Oct 21, against Danbury at 6:00.
