When the Greenwich High School puts together 60 minutes of top-notch field hockey, it could be a scary situation for the opposition.
Simsbury High School found that out in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference class L opener, as Big Red traveled to Holden Field and blitzed the Trojans 8-1 Wednesday night.
“The girls saved the best game that I have seen them play all year until tonight,” GHS head coach Allyn Orrico said. “They played a complete game tonight and I hope they could keep this going. They didn’t let the loss to New Canaan in FCIACs bring them down. If anything it strengthened our resolve. They worked super hard and they brought every single last thing we were working on all week long into the game.”
For Big Red, the duo of senior Sophia Portera and junior Paige Mautner each scored twice.
“This was so good,” Mautner said. “We came out wanting it and we wanted it more than any other game. Simsbury is such a good team, but we just came out on top because we put in an amazing effort.”
Adding to the point total were seniors Emma Slagle, Katherine DeWinter, Jessica Lagano and sophomore Kathleen Finnegan, as they each found the back of the cage once.
“When this team plays like a team, they are capable of anything,” Orrico said. “We have a lot of faith in them and confidence in there. We believe in them and I think they are finally believing in each other. They showed that today.”
Early on it was anybody’s game, as both teams had a few chances to take the early lead. However it was Greenwich that capitalized with 13:22 to play, as Big Red was awarded a penalty shot after attacking the Simsbury net. Lagano calmly stepped up and blasted the shot to the left side of the net for the 1-0 lead.
And it didn’t take long for Greenwich to extend the lead. Only 1:18 later, senior Caroline Stinebaugh pushed the ball down the field and passed to Portera in the middle of the field. She took the point blank shot and pushed the ball in the net for the 2-0 advantage.
“We continued to play our game and didn’t let them try to frazzle us,” Portera said. “That was an amazing performance and we were playing like a 60-minute team. To come in to states as an underdog and travel up here and have this big win is really nice.”
Simsbury answered quickly and fired a shot off a corner opportunity that cut the deficit in half.
But that’s when Greenwich tightened up its defense and started a relentless pressure on the Trojan’s defense. With 5:28 left in the first half, Mautner added her name to the scoresheet when she darted up the middle of the field and unloaded a shot that found the back of the cage.
Big Red kept the good times rolling in the second half. Only 50 seconds into the half Greenwich pressured and the foursome of Mautner, Palastro, Lagano and junior Madison Jayes each had good looks at the net, but the Simsbury goalie stood tall and cleared the ball out of harm’s way.
But the attack kept coming and s did the goals for Greenwich. Back-to-back conversions off corner opportunities extended the lead to 5-1. With 24:24 to play, Portera netted her second of the game when she got the rebound from senior Erika Hvolbeck’s original shot on net that hit the goalie pads.
Less than three minutes later, it was Slagle’s turn to capitalize on a corner and Portera’s turn to assist, as she dished the ball to Slagle for the goal.
Mautner, Finnegan and DeWinter rounded out the scoring for Greenwich.
“We worked on a lot of different combinations,” Orrico said. “We work them very hard in practice and they didn’t miss it today. We really played confidently and we put into motion on the field what our game plan is. They processed all that information of what we wanted to do and they put it in action. It’s as simple as that.”
With the victory, the Lady Cardinals earned a return trip back up north. On Friday, Greenwich will travel to Glastonbury and play the top-seeded Tomahawks. Glastonbury entered the tournament with a 17-0-3 regular season record.
“The only thing that is stopping us in ourselves,” Mautner said. “It all comes down to effort at the end of the day. We have to continue to play like this.”
“We just have to play our game and we can’t be worried or focused on the other team,” Orrico said. “We have to really play our game. I am confident that if we bring our game and play our game, the sky is the limit for us.”
