Hamilton scores twice, Springfield-Montco shuts out Lansdale Catholic

LANSDALE >> The Springfield Township field hockey team plays on grass, but the natural surface at Lansdale Catholic was a bit different from what the Spartans are used to.

“A lot of thicker, a lot thicker grass,” Springfield senior Ellie Hamilton said.

Visiting LC Monday afternoon for a nonleague matchup, the Spartans needed some time to adjust to a different style of pitch but got going in the second half. Already up 2-0 at the break, Springfield scored three times after halftime — two coming during a 1:19 span – and shut out the Crusaders 5-0.

“This field’s nice, it’s just slow. So we took a while to get used to the speed, even though we did have adequate time to warm up,” said Springfield coach Linda Nixon — now in her 50th season with the Spartans. “I was disappointed that we didn’t do better footwork on this. But I was pleased, I think we did some nice passing and open the game up.”

Hamilton scored a pair of goals, collecting the opening tally off a corner in the first half then ripped in a shot to make it 4-0 with 17:30 left as Springfield (5-1-0, 4-1-0 Suburban One League American) won its third straight.

“I feel like second half we definitely picked it up a lot, got the hang of it a little bit,” Hamilton said.

Lansdale Catholic (2-4-0, 2-1-0 Philadelphia Catholic League) made a few pushes towards the Spartans goals, but the Crusaders could not create many scoring opportunities. LC forced a penalty corner in each half, with the second getting the ball down low but it went out wide of the net.

“We did a good job of bringing the ball up the field, we just have to work on that finish, that final punch in the circle,” Lansdale Catholic coach Alexis Setley said. “They definitely stepped it up and played really well for playing against a very large public school team.”

Usually for the Spartans, playing surface talk centers around them having to transition from grass to turf being one the few SOL sides that does not have turf.

“It’s an advantage and disadvantage,” Hamilton said. “Because when they come to our home, we play better because we’re used to the grass but then when we go away, it’s tough for us to get the hang of the speed of the game.”

That will change soon with Springfield Township now in the process of putting in a turf field. Hamilton says the team is hoping it can host its Senior Night on it.

“It’s so pretty, it’s so nice,” said Hamilton of the new surface.

Both teams return to league play for their next game. Springfield visits Quakertown for a SOL American contest at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Lansdale Catholic hosts Archbishop Carroll in a PCL matchup 3:45 p.m. Friday.

“We knew this was going to be a tough game, all our nonleague games are but we’ve just got to shake this off a get ready for Friday,” LC senior Ally Maloney said.

Hamilton broke the scoreless tie midway through the first half, taking a corner at the top of the circle, stepping in and unleash a shot that went into the cage at 14:26 in the opening half.

“I look at the defender and then make the decision to see what the best move is,” Hamilton said. “A lot of the time it’s just like game time decision, it’s where the defender is I just go.”

The Spartans doubled their lead at 8:11 as the ball hit the right post but stayed in front of the cage and Ella Marina knocked it in.

Springfield made it 3-0 at 18:49 after halftime. The Spartans could not get a shot off on a corner but played the ball back into the circle. Kate Wojeck’s first shot was stopped but she scored on her second effort.

Hamilton followed shortly after with a blast at 17:30. Brigid Roy tallied the Spartans’ fifth goal with 1:21 left.

“I think we just come off faster this year,” Hamilton said. “And we have a lot of trust in our players so we know we can just hit anyone, we know that our forwards will get it and we know that our backs will stop it.”