After picking up the school’s first Capital District field hockey title last season, the Hanover Hawks are primed for a repeat. Last Wednesday the Hawks overcame their first early season obstacle with a 2-0 win over rival Lee-Davis.

  With 10 newcomers this season the Hawks have gone from hunter to hunted but Coach Sarah Bottorff has seen no problems with being the focus of every opponent.

  “I think that we kind of had that last year,” she said. “I think everybody kind of had their guns out for us. We’re used to it.”

  Bottorff has the Hawks focused on the moment. “We know that we haven’t earned anything yet and we have to play every minute of every single game and we just go into it with that attitude,” she said. “That seems to work.”

  Two weeks ago, Hanover notched a big non-district mark with their first ever win over Deep Run, but the players know that the district rival games such as Lee-Davis hold much more importance.

  “I think we still put a lot of emphasis on the (Lee-Davis) game, having to share the territory and everything, it’s a big Mechanicsville rival,” said senior back Madelyn Clark. “I feel like this game and Atlee are our biggest games of the season. This is who we strive to beat. Striving to be the team on top. Ready to be the team on top.”

  Hanover may be young coming into the season but Lee-Davis is even younger. With only two seniors and five sophomores on the starting roster, the Confederates gave the host team all they could handle.

  “I was very pleased,” said Coach Peggy Matthews. “The score didn’t reflect it. Their hits were very solid. Their teamwork. The defense played magnificently as a team. They were talking and communicating and playing like the needed to.”

  Emotions of playing such a close rival may have thrown Hanover off their game early. Though the Hawks repeatedly moved the ball into scoring position they could not capitalize on the offensive thrust. After four penalty corners in the first 19 minutes of play, Hanover came away scoreless.

  With 9:54 to play in the first half, Bottorff called a timeout to regroup her team.

  “I was seeing that we weren’t playing fast enough,” she said. “We just looked like we were sluggish. We had a game on Monday against Glen Allen, which was completely different. Nintey percent of it is mental. I think that was some of it. Maybe they had come in a little nervous for the game.”

  By the five minute mark of the first, Hanover had came away empty on two more penalty corners as the Confederate defense continued to come up big.

  But in the 27th minute, Hanover finally found pay dirt as freshman Michelle Knizner found senior Erika Taylor open on the left side. As C-fed keeper Courtney Gosselin adjusted to Knizner’s presence on the right, the freshman threaded a perfect assist through a gap in the Lee-Davis defense to a wide open Taylor for a goal.

  “(Taylor) has had some really good positioning for us on that back side so she really knows where to be and anticipates the ball really well,” Bottorff said.

  The coach attributed the goal to continued work in practice. “We do work on set plays in certain situations and ‘what would you do if’,” she said. “They’ve played enough that they know where they need to be and what their role is in the circle and that seemed like they’ve adjusted well.”

  With the score, Hanover found their focus. “Once we got the goal I think things kind of turned a little bit,” Bottorff said.

  Midway through the second half, Hanover added an insurance goal by senior Juliana Moore who took advantage of a defensive lapse by Lee-Davis.

  Despite the scores, defense was the word of the day for both teams. Hanover senior backs Brenna Crawford, Rosie Easter and Clark pounced on every Lee-Davis attack. At times, Clark appeared to be everywhere on the field at once.

  “I enjoy being in the back,” Clark said. “I get to direct the whole team. I’m the captain so it’s easy for me to see stuff and say, ‘hey, this is your mark, this is your mark, this is your mark, this is your mark’.

  “It’s easy to get into the game and not really see what happens, but it is my role to be there in the back and I do take full responsibility once the ball gets past nine other of the players and I’m ready to take that role even if that means getting behind our goalie Bailey (Lien).”

  Not to be outdone, in the middle seniors Lauren Kessler and Megan Tripp repeatedly made tackles and distributed the ball well.

  “That’s what made us so strong last year,” Bottorff said. “We won so many games by one goal last year, that’s always been our strength. We’re a new team so we’ve always had to play at lot of defense.”

  Backing up everything was Lien, who was solid and came away with eight saves, but one of Hanover’s biggest defensive plays came on a miss by their keeper.

  With 13 minutes remaining, Lee-Davis looked as if they would tie the game at 1-1. Running out 20 meters from the net, Lien missed on an attempt to boot the ball leaving the goal wide open. But out of nowhere, Easter swooped in to block the shot and drive the ball back up field.

  “She’s a solid defender,” Bottorff said. “She came to us last year and we had a starting defensive spot that needed to be filled and she filled it and she’s just been solid for me ever since. You can count on her to make big plays when they need to be made.

  Lee-Davis got solid performances from sophomores Harper Matthews and Madison Doss as well as seniors Meagan Patterson and Chrissie Norman. Their first and only penalty corner of the game in the final two minutes of play but could not penetrate the Hanover defense.

  “I thought we played pretty well tonight,” Clark said. “We stuck together as a team even through the rough parts of the game. Ultimately I’m just glad to see us come out on top.”

  While they came up short on the scoreboard, Lee-Davis showed that they are not a team to be overlooked as the youthful team gains more experience.

  Matthews feels her squad needs to develop better speed. “We have probably three players that are just absolutely fast,” she said. “But that recovery when my forward line loses the ball, they’re not coming back and trying to play attack defense. That’s what I call back. You don’t just give it up at midfield to bring it back. That’s what I’d like to see out of them more.”

  On Monday evening, Hanover picked up their second county rivalry win and more importnatly gained the upper hand in the Capital District race by beating host Atlee 1-0.
 
Lee-Davis…......................... 0 0 — 0
Hanover…............................ 1 1 — 2
H: Taylor, Moore
Saves: Gosselin (L-D) 2; Lien (H) 8
Assists: Knizner (H)
Records: L-D n/r; Hanover 4-0

Hanover 1 0 — 1
Atlee 0 0 — 0
H: Bellows
Saves: Lien (H) 4; Smith (A) 6
Records: Hanover 5-0, 3-0 Capital; Atlee 4-3, 3-1