Dark clouds and a nasty wind presided over the North Country Field on Saturday as our field hockey team took on Nazareth. The teams looked to be equally strong in the first half of play; while Nazareth was aggressive on the attack, SLU’s defense was more than ready for the challenge. They did a good job of repeatedly putting the home side on the counterattack.
Scoring opened up almost halfway through the first thirty-five minutes as SLU took the lead. The Saints moved the ball smartly around the circle before Sophomore Anna Hughes fired a shot on goal. The ball was reflected back into play, and Junior Sam Haab found the side of the net left wide open by Nazareth’s goalkeeper.
Nazareth took a while to respond, but finally scored with eight minutes left in the half. SLU goalkeeper Julia Hudson kicked the ball away from the immediate danger of an attack, but opposing attacker Catherine Willard recovered and backhanded the ball from the top of the circle for a shot on goal. The St. Lawrence defense was unlucky to not get a touch on the ball, and as a result it rolled past the goal line and the score was leveled.
Two minutes later Nazareth received a penalty corner which they converted aggressively. The ball was hit to the apex of the shooting circle, and Nazareth’s Willard made a laser shot into the middle of the net, leaving the forward with a brace at halftime.
SLU came back to the field after the break and absolutely dictated the game “We reminded the team how effective they were in our Tuesday game against St. John Fisher when we pressured every pass and stepped to intercept their passes,” said head coach Fran Grembowicz. The Saints owned the ball by doing just that. Nazareth was barely able to make it through SLU’s persistent midfield, and when they did the home defense intercepted every pass that the away side made to their forwards. “…our work as a unit in the second half, keeping the play in our offensive thirty yards for the majority of the half was excellent,” commended Grembowicz.
St. Lawrence’s aggressiveness paid off ten minutes into the second half. The home side hit a penalty corner to the crest of the circle and the ball was passed to assister Erica French on the right side of the key. French slotted the ball towards the penalty spot and found Kara Pelosi, who expertly finished and equalized.
SLU continued to command play for the rest of the half, but with only a few minutes remaining, Nazareth broke out of their defensive third and were able to make a final effort. The away team received two penalty corners in the last minute. Hudson was able to kick away the first, but the second bounced off the post, and according to the officials, crossed the goal line, despite protests from St. Lawrence otherwise. Willard was credited with the final goal, making her hat-trick complete.
Where SLU was dominating, Nazareth was just simply efficient, making good use of the chances they received. When asked what the difference was between the two teams, coach Grembowicz replied, “Nazareth came into the game with a tremendous amount of ‘desire to win the game’ and even though we pressured their defense for the majority of the second half, they never let down. When given the opportunity to put the game-winner in the net they responded to the chance.”
With such a strong display, though, the field hockey team cannot be too disappointed with Saturday’s result, and can only look forward to more of the same strong play. “This week in practice we will be working on two major weaknesses: scroring, …and stopping our opponents on the counterattack,” stated Grembowicz. Indeed, with those two objectives in mind, the Saints will no doubt have a stellar rest of the season. Field Hockey is set to play Vassar College this Saturday at 4pm.