Thowe, Hild lead Burnt Hills past Columbia 5-0
EAST GREENBUSH, NY » When it comes to Spartans field hockey, you’ve heard the names Paige Thowe and Jocelyn Hild before. They were hard at work on Monday night as the season enters the final week of the regular season.
“We had a good game. Obviously we came out on top, but there’s still things that we need work on going into our last game and into the playoffs,” Thowe said, who is a senior captain.
Burnt Hills defeated Columbia by a final score of 5- 0, which was encapsulated by a huge games from Thowe, Hild and Lianna Sullivan. Thowe score two of the Spartans five goals and Hild assisted on all but one.
It was Maddy Connelie who got things started for Burnt Hills, scoring on a free play off an assist from Lianna Sullivan. From there, Thowe and Hild took over.
On a penalty corner, Hild got the ball to her senior captain who put the Spartans second goal of the first quarter into the back of the cage.
“The coaches have been talking to me about getting my shots
off quicker and I think that I really heard that today. I was getting off quick shots and I’m really happy that the results are showing,” Thowe said.
Sullivan, already with an assist under her belt, scored the Spartan’s third goal, again assisted by Hild to begin the second quarter. Later on in the second, Thowe and Hild put together some déjà vu, as they repeated their scoring effort on a penalty corner.
As the second half begun, the Blue Devils started to look rejuvenated as they were able to hold Burnt Hills without any more scores until late in the fourth quarter.
“I think defensively we stood up and we pressured the ballmuch better andwe started playing like a team more,” said Columbia coach Bonnie Kenna.
Coming in to the game, the struggling Blue Devils team knew that were were going to have their work cut out for them against a tough BurntHills team. For her seniors playing in their final home game, Kenna wanted them to leave it all on the table.
“We did know it was going to be a tough one. The last game we played against them was 6- 0 and coming in we talked about how that should have been a 2- 0 game, sowe have go out and play our hardest and limit mistakes,” she said. “This was our seniors last game on our home turf and I just didn’t want them to have any regrets.”
While the final score may not reflect it, Columbia goalie Sophia Venable had herwork cut out for her and she was able to collect 15 saves in a game where the Burnt Hills offense controlled possession for most of the night.
With the win, BurntHills improves to 10-2 on the season. With the loss, Columbia drops to 2-9 on the season.
“Playing Columbia is a much different sort of game then it’s like when we play a team like Shen or Guilderland. Losing to Saratoga last week was definitely a wake-up call for us and we’ve been on our toes since that game and out to play our best,” Thowe added.
FINAL - BURNT HILLS 5, COLUMBIA 0
Columbia High School East Greenbush, NY Burnt Hills 2-2- 0-1 - 5 Columbia 0- 0- 0- 0 - 0 FIRST QUARTER
BHBL - Maddy Connelie, assisted by Lianna Sullivan (1- 0)
BHBL - Paige Thowe, assisted by Jocelyn Hild (2- 0) SECOND QUARTER BHBL - Lianna Sullivan, assisted by Jocelyn Hild (30)
BHBL - Paige Thowe, assisted by Jocelyn Hild (4- 0) FOURTH QUARTER BHBL - Grace Todd, assisted by Jocelyn Hild (5- 0) PENALTY CORNERS BHBL 14, Columbia 1 SHOTS ON GOAL
BHBL 17, Columbia 3 SAVES
Senja Matson/ Katherine Jensen ( BHBL) 3, Sophia Venable (Columbia) 15
FIELD HOCKEY RECAP
FINAL - SARATOGA 6, NISKAYUNA 0
Saratoga 0- 4-1-1 - 6 Niskayuna 0- 0- 0- 0 - 0 SECOND QUARTER SAR - Lily Gutch, assisted by Aubrey IdeSAR - Aubrey Ide, assisted by Lauren BarlowSAR - Allie Shamberger, assisted by Aubrey IdeSAR - Ava Gabryshak, assisted by Aubrey Ide
THIRD QUARTER
SAR - Lauren Barlow, assisted by Aubrey Ide FOURTH QUARTER SAR - Molly Frasier, assisted by Raegan Desmarais SAVES
Emma Piccirilo (SAR) 2, Julia Cropsey ( Nisky) 21