Pioneers blank Lower Moreland
The Christopher Dock field hockey team’s rubber match with Lower Moreland never was in doubt after a first-half offensive outburst by the Pioneers.
Joanna Benner scored two of Dock’s three goals in the opening 30 minutes and the eighth-seeded Pioneers shut out visiting No. 9 Lower Moreland 3-0 in the District One Class AA first round Tuesday afternoon.
“We had a sore loss the last game after a great win the first game that we played them. So, we wanted to come out to districts strongly,” Benner said. “We had a good break last week and so we wanted to just show them in the beginning that we can dominate this game. And that’s what we did, we came out strong.”
Taylor Schwoyer added a goal on a penalty stroke as Christopher Dock is back in the district quarterfinals after a one-year absence. The Pioneers visit top-seeded Villa Maria — which had a firstround bye — Thursday. A victory over the Hurricanes puts Dock in the Class AA semis for the first time since 2008.
“It’ll be a tough game. They’re very good, they’re very quick, they’re very fast and they’re very experienced,” said Dock coach Michelle Waldspurger of Villa Maria. “So, we’ll definitely be challenged.”
For the Pioneers, it was the first time they had scored at least three goals in the game since blanking Plumstead Christian 3-0 on Sept. 28.
“We’ve been having trouble capitalizing in the circle like this whole season,” Benner said. “So it was great to be able to come out right away and get some goals because it hasn’t been that way pretty much the whole season.”
Christopher Dock E11-8-0 overallF split its two games against Lower Moreland in the regular season. Dock topped its Bicentennial Athletic League rival 2-1 at home on Oct. 3, while falling to the host Lions 2-1 on Oct. 13.
“They came out strong, they wanted to win bad,” said Waldspurger of her team’s district effort. “My seniors have played well this season and they wanted to take it to them. They played well.”
Christopher Dock goalkeeper Marissa Souder made seven saves to record the shutout. Lower Moreland’s Claire McPherson finished with 16 saves.
Tuesday’s contest was scoreless for the first 15 minutes before Benner put Dock up 1-0 at 14:14, her ground shot through a crowd finding its ways into the back of the cage.
“It came over to the left side, and it came across and I remember trying to sweep it in the first time, didn’t happen,” Benner said. “Came back and it was just kind of a big scramble, but I just swept it in. And then hit the backboard, heard the backboard before I saw it.”
The Pioneers made it 2-0 at 6:21 as they were given a penalty stroke after a Low- er Moreland infraction in front of the goal. Schwoyer calmly converted, lifting her shot into the left side of the cage.
“We haven’t had a stroke all season. That was really cool to have Taylor able to do that,” Benner said.
Benner pushed the Dock advantage to three just 1:51 later, beating McPherson from the right side of the circle.
“We wanted to be able to win our first district home game, but we knew we couldn’t be comfortable with just two goals,” Benner said. “We had to bring it and get another few.”