Although the Greenwich High School field hockey team was unable to get past top-seeded Glastonbury High in the CIAC class L tournament, head coach Allyn Orrico is far from disappointed with the team’s performance, both this season and throughout the tourney.
“The ball just didn’t bounce our way today,” said Orrico after Big Red’s 4-1 defeat to Glastonbury High School last Friday. “However I am still really proud of this team and what they accomplished this season. They came a long way. This was a very successful season. We have a lot of young players on the team. Although we had a ton of seniors, a lot of younger girls got some great playing experience.”
With 4:02 to play in the game and the Tomakawks up 4-0, Greenwich got the pressure in the Glastonbury end and capitalized when junior Paige Mautner got the ball from Clare Ludington and found the back of the net for the score.
“Going in we knew that Glastonbury was going to be a tough team,” GHS senior captain Katherine Palastro said. “We just wanted to come in and play our game and work hard. I think our team showed that we wanted it and showed the effort. Sadly, we couldn’t translate that into goals, but I think it was a great game.”
After getting only one shot on net in the first half, Big Red came back with four in the second.
“The girls gave it everything they had, and that’s what we’ve been asking for them from day one,” Orrico said. “All I wanted was them to give their best effort and leave it out on the field. Our girls did that today and I’m very proud of them. Glastonbury is very strong with their ball possession skills and they were really relentless with their ability to make quick decisions and distribute the ball around the entire field.”
With the loss, Greenwich ended its season with a 12-7-0-1 overall record.
“We didn’t give up against Glastonbury and decided that we were going to come out strong no matter what,” senior captain Erika Hvolbeck said. “They were such a hard team to play, but you always have to play hard teams and you need to come out with as much heart as you can.”
A game earlier in the class L opening round, against No. 8 seeded Simsbury High School, Greenwich played like a team possessed, putting together 60 minutes of top-notch field hockey and destroying the Trojans, 8-1.
“The girls saved the best game that I have seen them play all year until tonight,” GHS head coach Allyn Orrico said Wednesday after the victory. “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.”
With the score 2-1 against Simsbury, Greenwich used a stretch of the game to put things out of reach quickly.
With 5:28 left in the first half, Mautner added her name to the score sheet 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 in, 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 so did the goals for GHS. 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.
“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.”
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.
“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.”
This year was all about the seniors for Big Red, as Orrico said they were the reason the squad was able to gel as a unit.
“We got out of the state tournament in the first round last year, so getting to the quarterfinals this year is a big deal for us,” Stinebaugh said. “I think the biggest thing for us is how we all bought into this as a team. We are literally a family. We performed really well on the field, but we were all there for each other off the field as well.”
Leading the way were captains Palastro, Stinebaugh and Hvolbeck.
“I am so proud of this team,” Palastro said. “We have 17 seniors on this team, so we all watched each other grow over these four years. It’s sad that it’s over, but we all have come so far.”
In addition to the captains, seniors Slagle, Tate Hatter, Sarah Gans, DeWinter, Elizabeth Fernandez, Ludington, Catherine Decker, Lagano, Emily Hopper, Portera, Elsa Mark and Caroline Schultz played their final field hockey game for Big Red.
“They meant everything to this team,” Orrico said. “Our program only stays strong if the people that are involved in it continue to leave a work ethic legacy behind. Our seniors really taught the underclassmen what this program is all about, with tradition, hard work and being relentless in your pursuit of being the best that you can be.”
When it came to improvements on the field this season, Orrico said that Big Red made great strides from the first day of practice to its final game against Glastonbury.
“I am really proud of the way we grew in terms of having confidence to carry the ball and be a really good ball possession team,” Orrico said. “They grew their individual skills, but also took them and used them with their teammates in whatever it was that we were trying to accomplish. I thought our ball distribution and possession skills improved immensely from the start of the season.”
For Stinebaugh, changing the point of attack was the team’s biggest improvement.
“We have done a lot better job of that in the past few games,” she said, “and it shows in the way we played against New Canaan in FCIACs and against Simsbury and Glastonbury in States.”
