Jaszczak’s OT goal gives D-West 1-0 win over Villa Maria

MALVERN—In the grand scheme of things, Monday’s non-league field hockey clash between Downingtown West and Villa Maria meant little or nothing. There were no titles on the line, nor playoff berths riding on the outcome. And given the two schools are in different classifications, there isn’t even a chance they might meet again down the road in the playoffs.

It was simply a chance for two of the area’s top field hockey programs to get together for some quality field hockey. The two hockey heavyweights slugged it out for just about seventy-three minutes of high-paced, high intensity field hockey before West’s Claudia Jaszczak did something no one to that point had been able to do—find the back of the cage for a goal, giving the Whippets (8-3) a 1-0 victory over the Hurricanes (7-1).

“We got the corner, and I just kind of spun around and saw I had a shot,” said Jaszczak. “Even before I spun, I just knew we had to get a goal there. It just felt really good to get a win over a team as good as Villa.”

The Whippets caught the first big break of the game, but it took over twenty minutes of back-and-forth to get there. With the clock ticking down to just over seven minutes remaining in the first half, West was awarded a penalty stroke. Jaszczak lined up to take the shot, and tried to put it to the left of of Villa goalie Abbie Zarkowski. But Zarkowski was up to the task, and made a beautiful save to keep the game in a scoreless tie.

“That was an amazing save,” said Villa coach Katie Evans. “For a freshman to step up big like that is fantastic, and we know we have something to build on with her.”

“Amazing” would be an excellent description for the defensive play of both teams, particularly inside the circle and on penalty corners. Despite the teams combining for 27 penalty corners, only Jaszczak scored. West goalie Maddie Nguyen gets credited for 16 saves on the afternoon, while Zarkowski notched 14.

“We know they have a really fast team and we’d have to keep up with their speed,” said West defender Celina Riccardo. “We knew who to mark, and knew we had to keep the ball away from the goal. This is a great win to boost our confidence for the rest of the season.”

West had a number of opportunities on the post all day, but found themselves unable to finish.

“It’s something we work on in practice every day,” said West coach Steph Bullock. “We’ve been missing on the post for a few games now. That has been a weakness. It’s a lot of lost opportunities if you can’t finish them, and it is something that we’ll keep working on.”

Villa had a chance to avoid overtime, forcing a penalty corner as the clock turned all zeroes. But the Whippet defense came through again, sending the game into the extra session and a situation West likes to think is to their benefit—7-on-7.

“We have a lot of team speed,” said Bullock. “They seem to be more comfortable with more space. So going to overtime isn’t panic mode for us. It seems to be more of our style, suing the lanes and our speed to our advantage.”

West hasn’t shied away from scheduling quality opponents. Villa was the third of four teams ranked in the top 20 nationally on the Whippets’ slate. Just this past Friday, West lost a heartbreaker to top-ranked Eastern Regional (Voorhees, NJ) in a game the Whippets outplayed the opposition everywhere but the scoreboard.

“We really needed this win,” said Bullock. “We needed to build that momentum back. Villa played really well today, and I knew it was going to come down to one goal. This is a sweet win.”

For the Hurricanes, it is time for short memories. Learn from it, and move on. Coming up Friday is a game with all sorts of conference ramifications when Mount St Joseph comes to visit. Mount, like Villa, is undefeated in the league, and has just one loss on the season, a 4-3 defeat to perennial powerhouse Donegal, who is currently ranked No. 2 in the country.

“I think it’s great to have games like this that show us our weaknesses now before we get to the district and state playoffs,” said Evans. “We know what we need to work on. This game came down to two defenses stepping up. Both teams were attacking really well, and both played great defense. They just got one in.”

Downingtown West 0 0 1—1
Vila Maria Academy 0 0 0—0

Goal: Jaszczak
Goalie Saves: Nguyen (DW) 16 Zarkowski (VM) 14