Field Hockey wins big over Hornets

The sun was high, the wind was little and the stadium was packed with Christopher Newport University students, friends and family members eager to watch the field hockey team deliver another winning performance. Deliver it did, as the Captains stormed the field with intense energy that blew away the visiting Shenandoah Hornets in an impressive 9-1 victory.

The game started with an enthusiastic cheer from the players, who huddled together as they always have, sharing last minute advice and encouragement before taking the field. They carried their high spirits with them, scoring quickly in the first half with 23:12 still on the clock, as junior midfielder Caitlin Cahill clipped it into the net with ease.

Cahill said that the goal seemed to take some stress off the team. “We got the first goal, and the second, and the third, and it was like, ‘Okay. Cool, we’ve got this. We just need to play hard and stay strong behind the ball,’” she said.

Those second and third goals were scored quick, the first only eight minutes later, again by Caitlin off a pass from sophomore attack Marlene Lichty. This was followed by another goal less than a minute later by sophomore defender Marcy Hoath with an assist from senior attack Paige Childers. From that point the goals did not stop— five total in the first half and four in the second half.

All of the goals were strong and well delivered, built up after long drives down the field or fast breakaways. Even as the team took on a strong lead they refused to slow down, despite being under the building heat of the afternoon sun. The Hornets, on the other hand, seemed to slow as the game progressed, their midfield and attack players were continuously forced to run back on defense, causing their offense to weaken as time wore on.

The Captains managed to keep the ball primarily in the Hornets’ half of the field throughout the game, hardly allowing the opposing team past the midfield line. When the ball did get in the Christopher Newport University side of the field, the defense was prepared to get it back out with strong push-passes and accurate drives.

Dani Perino, a freshman defender, believes that the defense has improved during the course of the season, and attributes much of that success to team unity. “We communicated really well and we just helped each other out,” she said. “The midfielders were able to get back, too.”

“Communication played a key role in this game,” Cahill agreed.

The Hornets did manage to score one goal during the second half with 12:34 still remaining, when the Captains finally seemed to lose some energy.

The goal woke them back up, and from that point on they again shut down the Hornets’ offense. Sophomore attack Meghan Sullivan scored the final goal of the game with almost nine minutes remaining to complete the dominating performance.

“We take it game by game,” said Belle Tunstall, a freshman attack. “We just practice for it and try to prepare as much as we can and then just come out with a positive attitude.”

The Captains hope to keep up the positive attitude and their winning ways on Wednesday, Oct. 12 against Eastern Mennonite University on Captains Field.

Posted by Christina Wordham on Oct 12 2011. Filed under Field Hockey, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.