North Point falls short to Northern in field hockey
Eagles are blanked in crossover contest
There was just 1 minute 35 seconds remaining and the outcome was well in hand when Northern’s Savannah Graves found the net in the Patriots’ field hockey game with the visiting North Point Eagles on Tuesday afternoon.
Nevertheless, Graves’ goal triggered an explosion on the Patriots’ bench more likely associated with a dramatic game-winning goal than the 11th goal of what ended later as a 12-0 Northern victory.
As a defender, Graves does not get many opportunities to score and when she did it created one of the game’s highlights on a day that was not lacking for them for the Patriots in the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference crossover contest.
“We really needed this and it really jelled us as a team, like when Savannah Graves scored,” said Northern’s Alayna Stewart, who scored twice in the game. “That goal from a defender was a really cool bonding moment for all of us. I think that’s really what we needed as a team. That was really awesome.”
The win was the third straight for Northern (3-0 overall), all coming in SMAC crossover games. All three wins have come by shutout, as the Patriots have outscored their opponents 22-0 during that stretch. But Tuesday’s effort was a clear step forward for the group as it heads towards a challenging Chesapeake Division schedule.
“I think today our team really came together, made good passes and a strong push forward
in the offense, which was great,” Northern head coach CoraJo Tozzolo said. “Our defense was organized and got the ball out when we needed to, so overall it was a good day for us.”
Hannah Scheibach got the Patriots started when she deposited a feed from Natalie Williams into the cage for the 1-0 lead less than three minutes in. Scheibach added a second goal shortly thereafter, while Bella Crum, Stewart and Mackenzie Blackwell each followed with goals to give the hosts a 5-0 cushion at the half.
More of the same was on tap in the second half, as Natalie Mellen scored twice within the first nine minutes of the half to stretch the Patriots’ advantage to 7-0. Leigha Dick dropped in the team’s eighth goal before Stewart and Blackwell each tallied their respective second goals of the game to push the lead to 10-0 before Graves’ tally. Mellen added a third goal in the game’s final seconds to cap the scoring.
Throughout Tuesday’s win the Patriots were able to see much of the work they have been doing in practice come to fruition in what was a fairly complete performance.
“I’m really proud of our team today,” Northern’s Kaleigh Mulligan said. “I think we did really well with our passing. That’s been something we’ve been working on. I think we were really successful with that today. We took what we were working on in practice to the field.”
In a scheduled Potomac Division
game at 4 p.m. today, North Point will look to bounce back when it hosts La Plata.
“Northern is an exceptional team. We take away new skills and ideas as we play each team,” North Point head coach Sandra Fair said of Tuesday’s game. “Their stopping and offensive skills are amazing. Our defense is our best asset and our goal is to not have them work as hard, to make the offensive side more balanced.”
Northern is scheduled to host Calvert at 4 p.m. today and will look to continue building some early season momentum.
“We’ll get into the thick of our schedule this week,” Tozzolo said. “We have Calvert on Friday, our first in-county competition. I’m excited to see how the girls do. From preseason to now, we’ve really progressed a lot. Today was a good showing of our passing skills, especially, our communication . ... Today it really clicked, especially in the second half. They were really able to get the ball down the field well and across the cage. We’re getting there.”
“We’re coming together as a team, starting to jell,” added Mulligan. “I’m looking forward to our next games.”