Warriors handle Hornets
WEST CHESTER >> No matter the sport, every team wants to be playing its best late in the season, hoping to carry the momentum into the postseason.
If Monday is any indication, Henderson is all ready for the playoffs to get going.
The Warriors got goals from five different players, and held visiting Oxford’s offense mostly in check as Henderson (7-4-1 National, 11-4-1 overall) cruised past Oxford (5-5-1 American, 10-6-1) in a cross-divisional matchup of two District 1 playoff qualifiers.
“We’ve been playing well the last couple weeks,” said Henderson coach Jen O’Donnell. “Hopefully we’re peaking at the right time. I’m not sure there is such a thing in field hockey, but yes, they are really coming together well as a unit as we head into the postseason.”
The Warriors controlled possession for much of the first half, forcing nine penalty corners to just one for the Hornets over the course of the first 30 minutes. But it wasn’t until just 7:38 remained that Henderson was finally able to slip one past Oxford goalie Julie Hubley and in to the back of the cage.
Awarded a corner try, Emily Delor put the ball in play on the insert, sending it in to Emma Betrando at the top of the circle. Betrando passed it off to Claire Applebee, who slammed it home for the first score of the game.
“We started pretty slowly,” said Henderson’s Ryann Bauer. “But we just finally started clicking. We just started to find each other with passes and working as a team.”
Once the Warriors broke through with that first one, the floodgates opened. Two minutes later, Betrando crossed a ball into a crowd where Kasey Collins grabbed it and scored. Another two minutes passed, and Sammi Long converted a Warriors corner try, with another assist to Betrando.
“It feels really good to get a win like this today,” said Long. “We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. It’s been a great to see the way we’ve come on over the course of the season.”
The second half featured more of the same, with Collins picking up a second goal, along with scores coming from Lexi Dunleavy and Emily Delor. Goalie Rachel Bliss turned away eleven Hornets shots on the afternoon.
Oxford’s Sarah Johnson cut the lead to 3-1 with an unassisted goal with 21:48 to play. The Hornets other goal came late, with Katie Dodson finding the back of the cage with just 1:48 remaining. Hubley finished the day with 12 saves.
“I think today we might have come in with a little too much confidence,” said Oxford coach Ann Marie Anderson. “We looked like a whole bunch of individuals out there, not like the team we’ve been all season. We’d make a couple of nice plays, and then it would just fall apart inside the circle.”
Despite the loss, the Hornets are still looking to reach the District 1 tourney for the first time since 2007.
“We were sitting a 15 in the power rankings for quite a while there, and the top 16 get to host a game,” Anderson said. “But this is going to be the first time we get into Districts since my first year coaching here. We’re all very excited, and we all know that anything can happen. We’ve got some things to work on, and we need to get our focus back.”
