Varsity Field Hockey vs Loomis Chaffee School

Score/Result: 4-1 W

Taft 4

Loomis 1

From the first whistle we played all out.  We knew Loomis was fast and aggressive so our plan was to get to every ball first and we did.  Our attacking forwards put so much pressure on their midfield and defense that we turned over the ball numerous times and created numbers up situations.  We took possession right from the first whistle and earned a corner within minutes.  The tone was set early and we never let up from there.  Every player on the team had her best game of the season thus far.  The game was scoreless for just about the first quarter, but Audrey Quirk ended that was a perfectly placed hard flick from the top of the circle.  The 1-0 lead was nice, but the game was really back and forth for the next 13 minutes.  Mary almost scored goal number two with a well place and hard hit shot the Loomis keeper reached far and low and made an incredible stop with her stick on the goal line and then quickly cleared it out to assure there would be no rebound. 

We scored the next three goals in the last 6 minutes of the first half.  Goal number two was an incredible full team, full field effort.  The ball passed out of the defensive end and each of the four forwards touched the ball as it moved down field.  But it was Mary DuBois who passed the ball to Rachael Alberti for the shot and goal.  The third goal was a straight shot by Mary off a corner and the fourth goal was also Mary on a breakaway.  There was a foul on our defensive 25 and Audrey Quirk took the free hit so quickly that Loomis wasn’t ready.  She found Mary open in the midfield and Mary beat two defenders and found herself with 25 yards to go with just her and the goalie.  As the goalie came out to play Mary, she was able to put it just past her to find the corner of the goal.  It was an incredibly exciting string of awesome goals. 

We knew going into the second half that Loomis was going to come out fired up which they did.  Unfortunately Maggie O’Neil, who was incredible on defense as usual, had her thumb smashed on a follow through so she was unable to play most of the second half.  However, everyone else really stepped up.  Hope Tierney went in quickly and immediately made a great tackle.  We then made an adjustment to the line up and Audrey was moved back to the center back position where she played amazingly well there as she did in the entire game. 

Mary DuBois had by far her best game of the season.  The ref at the end of the game complimented her for her quickness and stick skills.  Caroline Queally played better than I have ever seen her play.  She was double-teamed throughout much of the game and was able to either quickly dodge two players or get off quick hits under great pressure.  Rachael Alberti, Collins Grant and Lauren Drakeley on the forward line put us in numbers up situations repeatedly due to their aggressive play and well timed tackles.  Sarah Lindenberg also played a really smart game and effectively stopped their right side attack.  In the sweeper position, Gwen faced a lot of pressure but was consistent and strong on the ball.  Amy Feda made a number of huge saves including a really hard hit off a corner in the first half. 

The best part of the game was the compliments we received from the refs.  They both went on about how skilled we are and said we tackled better than most of the college games they see.  This team should be very proud.