Galica’s hat trick carries Conestoga past Garnet Valley

CONCORD—It’s no exaggeration to say that for the last decade or so, the road to a Central League field hockey title goes through Conestoga and Garnet Valley. This season appears to be no different, as the two teams came into Thursday’s showdown at the Jags home field tied for the top spot in the league. Garnet had not yet tasted defeat, while Conestoga’s only loss came at the hands of Oak Knoll (NJ), currently ranked no. 5 in the nation by MaxFieldHockey.com.

Buoyed by a hat trick from Kate Galica, the league’s leading scorer the past two seasons, the Pioneers then held off a furious second half comeback bid by the Jaguars, and took over sole possession of the top spot in the Central with a 3-2 victory.

“Garnet is always super tough,” said Conestoga coach Regan Marscher. “They are well-coached and disciplined. I think that first goal from Garnet deflated us a bit, when it came at the buzzer, but I am proud of the way we kept our composure. Garnet is always talented, and a tough matchup for us and we’re happy to come away with the win.”

The first period was about as evenly played as one would expect from two of the top teams in all of District 1. With less than three minutes to play, there were still goose eggs on the board, and the teams were even in penalty corners at two apiece. On the last of those four, with 4:05 to play, the Jags showcased some masterful defense, as the Pioneers pummeled away, but came up empty. 

With 2:47 to go in the period, the Pioneers ended the scoring drought when Shae Wozniak got the ball to Galica, who slammed it home for the first goal of the game.

“This is a big game for us, so getting that first goal on the board is really encouraging,” said Galica. “Garnet is always tough, so we knew we had to come out strong and play our game.”

The goal seemed to energize the Pioneers. Over the next ten minutes, “Stoga began to mount relentless pressure inside the circle, and forced the next five penalty corners of the contest. With 4:52 to play in the half, Conestoga was awarded a corner. Lexi Patterson put the ball in play on the insert, sending it to Galica at the top of the circle, who fired off a bullet for a 2-0 lead.

“We’ve been looking for more diversity on our corners this season,” said Marscher. “We have some new talent we’re trying to use, and it was great to see us convert on a couple today.”

Galica notched the third goal of her hat trick just moments into the second half, when the Pioneers converted another corner try. This time it was Galica on the insert, and then she slid over to the post. Lily Jamison found her there, put the ball on her stick, and watched as Galica did the rest.

“Winning the Central League is always a goal,” said Galica. “My freshman year we lost to them, which wasn’t very fun. Beating them feels great. We’ve played against some high-level competition this year, and we knew that if we played the way we can, we could get the win.”

The win puts the Pioneers in the driver’s seat for the league championship, and with the post season right around the corner, Conestoga is feeling pretty good about their chances to make a deep run.

“We’ve played a tough schedule this season, by design,” said Marscher. “We played this past weekend in the National Invitational Tournament, just to be able to face that kind of out-of conference competition. But Garnet is right here in the district, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them again. It’s such a healthy competitive match-up—we even wear the same colors.”

The Jags didn’t just pack it in, getting on the board with a goal just ahead of the buzzer ending the third period. Riley Gallagher drove the ball inside the circle on a breakaway, and passed it up to Alyssa Smith on the post. Smith slipped it behind the goalie for the score.

“We did not start off strong,” said Jags’ coach Sandy Leiti. “I think we let our nerves get the best of us. But we made a few adjustments. We made adjustments to our midfield, did some different things on defense, and just started clicking. But it just wasn’t enough.”

Kayla Snyder cut the Pioneer lead to one, as Garnet converted a corner of their own, making it a 3-2 game, with just over four minutes to play. Gallagher was credited with her second assist.

It’s just the first loss for Garnet Valley, so a big post season run remains an eminently attainable goal.

“Looking at their schedule, it’s tough to see Conestoga losing in the league, so we’ll probably have to set a new goal,” said Leiti. “We may not win the Central. So now we set the goal of getting into districts. After we do that, we work on getting to states. There’s a lot of good things that can still happen for us.”

Conestoga 1 1 1 0—3
Garnet Valley 0 0 1 1—2

Goals:
Conestoga—Galica (3)
Garnet—Smith, Snyder

Goalie Saves: Lepore (C) 4, Greek (CV) 9