Lawrenceville rebounds with win over PDS
LAWRENCEVILLE — After a little bit of a rough start to the season, the Lawrenceville field hockey team certainly looked to have things straightened out Thursday.
The Big Red knocked off inter-county rival Princeton Day 4-2 on a beautiful afternoon at Fisher Field thanks largely to a huge advantage in penalty corners and the play of sophomore Evie Bird, who recorded a goal and two assists. The goal was Bird’s first for Lawrenceville.
“I thought we played awesome, and I thought PDS played awesome,” Lawrenceville coach Lisa Ewanchyna said after the game. “They’re really well coached and they’ve got some solid, solid players. I think we came into this thinking that we suffered some disappointments in the beginning of the season but that we were on an upward trajectory.”
Lawrenceville’s first score came off a penalty corner with 16:26 left in the first half. The ball went first to Grace Hillman, who then dropped off a nice pass to Sara Culhane at the top of the circle. Culhane then ripped a bouncing shot past PDS goaltender Sarah Trigg.
“Every team practices some passing patterns and some options,” Ewanchyna said. “The funny thing is that they didn’t all work the way they were supposed to, but the fundamentals of people going to the post and keeping their sticks down worked very well. If the first shot didn’t go, they followed up. It’s just about being adaptable.”
The Big Red struck again with just 15 seconds left in the half off another corner, when Bird found Julia Minnetian in front of the net.
“Our main goal was really to communicate and finish,” Bird said. “We had been having trouble doing that. Our corners are really the main thing in our game, and it’s really just a combo of our passing and putting strong shots on goal.”
The Panthers responded in the second, with Emma Quigley finding Sarah Brennan for both of PDS’ goals. Brennan’s second goal, however, didn’t come until after the Big Red had scored their third goal, when Bird found Jane Kirby.
Throughout the game, Lawrenceville enjoyed a noticeable advantage in terms of possession.
“Our girls were stepping to the ball really well, which was huge,” Ewanchyna said. “Possession is all about just going for it. We stepped up really well, and we hadn’t been doing that in some of our earlier losses.”
Bird scored her goal in the game’s closing minutes. Unguarded off a penalty corner, the sophomore blasted an emphatic shot past Trigg, sealing the game for Lawrenceville.
“It just felt so great,” she said.
Lawrenceville will try to capitalize on its new momentum next Wednesday at Germantown Acadamy, while PDS will play Blair at home this Saturday.