Downingtown West posts convincing win over Great Valley

DOWNINGTOWN—The Ches-Mont’s two divisional leaders in field hockey squared off Tuesday afternoon at Downingtown West’s Kottmeyer stadium. Playing host was the National Division-leading Whippets, taking on visiting Great Valley, who entered the contest tops in the American Division standings, and riding a nine-game winning streak since dropping the first game of the year to Conestoga.

Tuesday it was all West. Behind a pair of goals from Piper Cline, and some stellar play on the defensive half of the field, the Whippets (9-3 overall, 8-0 league) notched a convincing 4-0 victory over the Patriots (8-2, 5-1).

“We really needed that win today,” said West coach Steph Bullock. “We’ve been following them, so we knew the kind of scores they were putting up and the kinds of teams they were doing it against. We knew we would have to be at our best. We prepared ourselves, and really stepped up and got it done today.”

Though the Whippets held a slight edge in penalty corners in the early going, forcing three corners to just one for Great Valley in the first period, neither team was able to find the back of the cage. 

“I don’t think we played poorly,” said Great Valley coach Brenda Haley. “We played with energy and intensity. We just weren’t making the connections. That happens sometimes, and we got beat by a very good team.”

West finally ended the scoring drought midway through the second period when Ashley Plzak assisted on a goal from Ciara Margetich. The Whippets kept up the pressure, and forced three corners in the final two minutes, including a pair as time expired, but couldn’t slip another past Patriot goalie Katie Hanlon and settled for the 1-0 lead headed into the break.

Once getting the lead, the West defense took over. By game’s end, the Whippets had outshot Great Valley 20-10, and had forced 17 penalty corners to just four for the Patriots.

“All day long, we talked really well in the midfield and the backs really stepped up,” said Bullock. “Peyton (Margetich) had a great game for us an Kaiya (Chepow)had some great saves in the cage.”

Coming out of the break, the Whippets picked up where they left off, forcing a pair of corners in the first two minutes of the second half, converting on the second when Cline scored, with an assist to Alyssa Freeman, and a second assist to Plzak. Cline struck again five minutes later, when the Whippets converted the third or three consecutive corners. This time it was Peyton Margetich with the assist.

“We’ve been working hard all year, so it’s always nice when the work pays off with an important win,” said Cline. “We talked about our corners and communicated well, and just executed well on our corners. We can do really well if we just keep working hard.”

The game’s last goal came just before the final buzzer, when Peyton Margetich scored unassisted with a bullet just behind the goalie, ricocheting off the far and back walls of the cage with a quick and loud bang-bang. 

Despite the loss, the Patriots are still in the driver’s seat for the American division crown, holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over second-place Kennett. A first-round bye in the District 1 class 3A playoffs is well within reach, too.

“We just have to learn from this and move on,” said Haley. “If we’re going to get a loss, better now than when it could end the season, and if we’re going to lose a game, at least it came against a very good team.”

Great Valley 0 0 0 0 –0
Downingtown West 0 1 2 1—4

Goals–
West: Cline (2), C. Margetich, P. Margetich
Goalie Saves: Hanlon (GV) 6, Chepow (DW) 8