Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Shanahan stands alone, again, in Ches-Mont
Indians take care of Henderson in key league duel
EAST MARLBOROUGH » Over the past few years, the Unionville field hockey program has had quite a run of success, one with numerous Ches-Mont LEague titles, District 1 titles and state berths. So getting off to a 1-4 start is not something that sits well with players nor coaches alike.
Tuesday afternoon found West Chester Henderson, which came in with a 3-2-1 record and ranked No. 8 in District 1 Class 2A, visiting the Indians in a Ches-Mont match-up. After jumping out to a 3-0 first half lead, Unionville improved to 2-4 with a convincing 4-0 shutout of the Warriors (3-3-1).
“We came out today and really seemed to want it more than we had in any other game,” said Unionville coach Katie Arnold. “We were doing a lot of things right today— passing well, keeping possession and finishing. Things we haven’t been doing well.”
Unionville had a pair of Maddies come up big in the win. Captain Madison Miles scored a goal, and assisted on two; while Maddie Holt had a goal and an assist.
“Our last game at Great Valley, we were just lacking in intensity,” said Miles. “Today, we were talking and communicating and just attacking like we haven’t been doing. It feels great to come out and play the way we know we can play today. Hopefully this is the start of a comeback season.”
Despite controlling possession for much of the first ten minutes, it took until the 19:44 mark before Unionville finally got on the board. Holt sent a ball to the post, where a waiting Maura Minter slammed it through a crowd and into the far side of the cage for the game’s first goal.
Then, with about ten minutes to play in the half, the Indians scored twice in quick succession on penalty corners. Miles took the insert and shot from the top of the circle for a 2-0 Indians lead, then barely a minute later, found Holt with a pass that the latter banged off the back of the cage.
“Getting out from like we did felt really good,” said Holt. “Too many games so far we’d start slow and have to play from behind. But we worked really well together as a team today. Our transitions were better than they’ve been all year.”
The Indians tacked on one more goal when Miles dished off to Mia Impagliazzo for a score midway through the second half.
“We put up four goals today, which is awesome,” said Arnold. “But maybe the bigger thing about today was that from pre-game on, there was just a positive attitude that carried all the way through the game.”
For their part, the Warriors will just have to shake it off, put it in the rear view mirror, and get back to work. It’s a long season, and Henderson figures to be right in the thick of things.
“This is a very young team — we only have two starters back from last season,” said Henderson coach Jen O’Donnell. “We didn’t have the aggression we need to have. We need to keep working on the basics. They are all getting experience. I keep moving girls around, which isn’t ideal for the girls, but we just keep searching for that magic combination and we haven’t quite found it yet.”