Published: September 09, 2008
By Charlie Leffler .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The intense rivalry between Hanover and Patrick Henry may be most contested on the gridiron, but the fledgling field hockey teams from the two schools did their best to get into the spirit of the battle in a Wednesday evening precursor to the marquee football match up on Friday night.
“I think that extends a little into field hockey, but it’s not as intense as football,” said Hanover head coach Sarah Bottorff.
The contest ended, appropriately enough for an intense intra-country rivalry, in a 1-1 tie.
“It would have been nice to beat them,” Bottorff said. “I’m not going to lie. It’s nice to win a game.”
In the season opener for both teams, play ranged from sloppy to inspired, which one would expect in the initial contest of the season. Played under a scorching sun, the teams did their best to adapt to the dry field and blistering heat that brought about mandatory water breaks during both halves. But despite the tie, both coaches left the field pleased with the overall performances of their squads.
“Considering the conditions, it’s really hot outside, I thought we played really well and I saw a lot of good things that we’ve been working on,” Bottorff said.
Throughout the first half, Hanover dominated play on the field, controlling the ball and making Patrick Henry play keep-up, which Patriots’ head coach Pattiann Beach said was uncharacteristic of her team.
“I think we were kind of flat to start with,” Beach said. “Maybe the heat got to them…I don’t want to make excuses.”
Beach felt her team had played better in scrimmages than it did during most of the first half of the game against Hanover. The coach felt that the fact that school was now in session could have distracted her players at the onset. “I don’t know that they were mentally prepared,” she said.
Hanover jumped on the scoreboard early in the initial period when sophomore Nicole Shelton fed a pass into the center of the arc from the right side. From just in front of the goal, it was a senior to senior connection for the score as Sharon Nye set up Ellie Grove for a goal in close to put he Hawks up 1-0.
On defense, Hanover denied any chance for Patrick Henry to score in the first half. Hawks’ keeper Marisa Connelly, subbing for Dale Cummings who was unavailable for the game, did a good job of keeping the Patriots out of the net throughout most of the contest.
But trailing at the half, Patrick Henry regrouped during the second period and played with much more determination. “They definitely picked up toward the end of the first half then through the second half,” Beach said. “They seemed to be hustling more once they got going.”
Late in the second half, the Patriots knotted the score at one when they took advantage of a series of corners where Hanover was put in a position that was difficult to deny the attack. “You get the ball in the circle down there on the corner, it’s hard to keep it out of the net,” Bottorff said. “That’s why they give you corners. That three or four corner run in a row kind of hurt us.”
With the ball in close, a battle ensued between the two teams and after what seemed to be a prolonged stalemate; Patrick Henry’s Mady Parr willed the ball across the goal line for a score. “She came in and pushed and pushed and pushed,” Beach said. “Right there where the ball was, she was.”
For Beach, the fact that her team has such a good defense throughout practice provided the skill for her offense to score. “Our defense is very solid,” she said. “If our offense can score in practice there’s no doubt they can score in games.”
Both teams had opportunities to retake the lead but the opposing defenses played strong to end the contest. Beach praised the play of Sarah Stack on the wings and Anna Wheeler on defense, who seemed to be everywhere at once. “She has an excellent stick,” Beach said of Wheeler. “She just has a good sense of the game, not much gets past her and when it does she relies on the rest of her team to support her until she can get back and support them.”
Beach was also pleased with the play of Summer Washington, Ashley Bruce, Rachael Hayden and Cameron Conklin.
For Bottorff, the resulting tie gave her confidence in her team and enough evidence of things that need to be improved upon. “Our fitness and our passing are looking really good right now,” she said. “We’re going to work on converting corners and we’re going to work on finishing. We’re going to work on our offensive skills basically and more transition.”
Beach on the other hand was pleased that her team displayed the ability to bounce back from adversity. “At the end there, with the five corners that they had, they were determined, which is excellent,” she said. “That’s a bright future right there knowing that they do have it within them to come back from adversity and actually dig deep within them and score.”
