By David Fierro
Three games into the 2024 season, the Sacred Heart Greenwich field hockey team has scored 20 goals, while not allowing a single tally.
Well, it doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
After opening its season with a shutout win against School of the Holy Child, the Tigers hosted Kent School this past Saturday and cruised to a 7-0 victory. On Monday, Hopkins School visited Sacred Heart and the Tigers earned another 7-0 triumph, raising their early-season record to 3-0.
For SHG, the first three games of the season have followed a familiar pattern. The Tigers have scored early and often during the first two quarters, then have played keep away from the opposition in the second half, passing the ball around the field.
“I think we did a great job, obviously, it was our first game against a boarding school, which was a big deal,” Sacred Heart Greenwich senior tri-captain Charly Nemec said of the Tigers’ win versus Kent School. They’re pretty aggressive, mostly ice hockey players, they were definitely physical. We took advantage of corners, shutting them down early. We did a great job of possessing the ball the last two quarters.”
Against Kent School, Nemec recorded a hat trick, while senior tri-captain Ainsley Clough recorded two goals to power the offense.
“We played amazing,” Clough said. “I think we worked really well as a team and at the end, we were passing the ball around, we were really working well together.”
Nemec scored the game’s first goal against Kent, tallying with 11:50 remaining in the first quarter. Clough converted a shot at the 3:53 mark of the opening quarter, then found the cage again with 1:14 left, making it 3-0.
Kingsley Ely opened the scoring in the second quarter versus the Lions, scoring with 9:30 remaining. Nemec’s second goal came with 4:39 to go in the second stanza, then Ely tallied again with 3:03 left to play in the first half. Nemec had the Tigers’ second half goal, scoring at the 10:55 mark of the third quarter.
“We came out really strong from the start and everyone was working hard in the circle to get a foot or trying to place the ball in the goal,” Ainsley Clough said.
The Tigers earned 12 penalty corners and took 12 shots on goal. Kent was limited to one shot.
“We were able to connect well on the passes and get some long passes and short and work really well in the middle,” SHG senior tri-captain Daphne Fallon said. “We were able to get it to our forwards easy and overall we connected really well and passed the ball.”
“It’s always very good to have such a great lead against a great boarding school, a great NEPSAC school,” Fallon continued. “I think it’s really encouraging for us as we take on the other boarding schools.”
Senior Teresa Harkins got the shutout win in goal.
“I’m very happy, it was a very solid performance,” SHG coach Alex Gheorghe said following the Kent game. “The ball movement was good, positioning was good, the girls were very disciplined.”
Indeed, the Tigers have started each game strong offensively and defensively.
“We came out early, had a really great press and once we got the ball a couple of times on the press, it was just getting it in the goal,” Nemec noted. “Ainsley and I were taking a bunch of shots at the top and our team was being gritty in front of the goalie, which set us up early.”
On Monday against visiting Hopkins School, an FAA opponent, Clough and Nemec scored two goals apiece, while Elle Corcoran, Addy Callaway and Ely added one goal apiece for the victors.
Corcoran, Nemec, Clough and Callaway posted first quarter goals. In the second quarter, Nemec, Clough and Ely tallied.
“We had a good solid win today,” SHG coach Sarah Hill said. “The goal was to stay focused and hungry and the team performed really well. We are preparing for our next match on the road Wednesday at Taft.”
