Plainsmen win contest of previously undefeated teams 2-1
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Each Saratoga versus Shenendehowa athletic contest is circled on the team’s respective calendars, but in field hockey the guaranteed two regular season meetings are important far beyond the final score.
“It gave a lot of things for us to work on and that’s what we needed to know because it’s been hard to tell with some of these other games because some have been a little lopsided or some of it had been a little frustrating because we are trying to work around things,” Saratoga Springs coach JoAnne Hostig said. “It’s nice to see what we can do when teams spread out and this was really the first game that was more spread out, it was just a nicer whole game overall to be able evaluate and figure out what your weaknesses are there.”
In front of a sideline filled with parents, friends and family Shenendehowa senior Jenna Graf drilled a received insert from Kelli Russo on a penalty corner with less than 11 minutes left to push the Plainsmen past the Blue Streaks, 2-1, on the grass surface at Saratoga Springs High School.
“I have to hand it to Kelli (Russo) it was a perfect insert,” Graf said. “I really just felt the ball underneath my stick and it was like a fire shot and the energy that came off that shot was incredible. I felt like I was
on cloud nine.
“It was a perfect insert on this grass that can bouncy. It really just connected; we were working well as a team.”
Shenendehowa senior Eliza Branch opened up the scoring eight minutes into the first half, scoring an unassisted goal.
Saratoga Springs junior forward Lindsey Frank knotted the contest at one goal apiece with seven minutes left from an assist by senior forward Sara Phillips in the battle of unbeatens.
Plainsmen goalie Sheridan Messier had an upclose and personal look at Frank throughout the contest, including a one oneon-one battle in which she came out aggressively from the cage and slid with her pads on top of each other.
“I don`t think about it, when they have breakaways it’s more of what I’ve been taught in terms of club ball is to go after them,” Messier said. “Why wait for them to do whatever they are going to do, why give them the time to think, put it in the goal when you can just go at them?”
Willing to accept the one-time goal by the Blue Streak’s top threat, Messier had help from her defense late in the contest when Frank again pressured within the scoring circle.
“I kind of just went out because I knew there was no one back and after Bridgette (Shanahan) got beat I knew she was going to come back,” Messier said. “I figured I would go up and challenge her, break down my steps and try to delay some time for Bridgette to get back because what I tell my defenders is `If the person in front of you gets beat, you have to come back behind them.’ A lot of it is just layering and layering.”
The layers, both of the Plainsmen defense and Messier’s stacked plastic goal pads proved to be the difference in the scheduled first Suburban Council tilt.
“It’s `Good game, survived on grass’ that’s what it’s called,” Shenendehowa coach Jeanne Frevola said. “I mean Lindsay (Frank) is fast, but I think we’ll have a better plan for her next time, but on grass it’s hard because it’s not a surface we’re used to.
“I practiced on the dirt bowl yesterday at Shen on the modified field to try to predict what this was going to look like. My varsity field is too spongy, too thick, we cut it every day, we can’t get it down low enough, and it just isn’t working. They’re trying to, but we need a golf course mower, like for the greens.”
Both coaches agreed that the two meetings each season are important to the development of their squads, neither one would concede to planned third meeting in the post-season where the lessons learned are put to the test one final time.
“Everybody was spread out and we could see the developing play of Lindsay and Erin and my other forwards,” Hostig said. “It was so nice to see the game and we really haven’t. I’ve seen our kids score and score, but I haven’t seen the big picture,
“It was nice to see the flow and the go and each team having momentum. We don’t quite have that this year, so it’s hard to judge what you need to work on because you get a false sense of security.”
The next scheduled meeting is 4:15 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 2 on the turf at Brent T. Steuerwald Stadium on the Shenendehowa campus.