Corners spark Wissahickon in win over Abington
ABINGTON >> Last week the Wissahickon field hockey team went 1-for-16 on corners in a win over Springfield Montco.
Against Abington Monday afternoon, the Trojans converted 2-of-8 corners in a 4-0 Suburban One League American Conference win over the Ghosts.
“What’s nice about this turf is it comes out really fast,” Wissahickon coach Lucy Gil said of corners at Abington Memorial Field. “The flyer can’t come out as fast as the ball. When there’s not as much pressure it seems like we do a little better. They were able to get their shots off because the flyer wasn’t getting there fast enough. It worked out better for us. We really enjoy this fast turf. A lot of kids on my team are super, super quick. Every time the turf is really fast I think we do better.”
Hannah Havrilla scored the first goal with 7:35 left in the first half. She received Lauren Donofrio’s insert pass on the first corner of the game and ripped a shot into the back of the cage.
“It was originally supposed to go to Grace Ball,” Havrilla said, “but when the time came I just stood up, I took the shot and it went in left post. It was a very good goal.
“We were looking at a straight shot from the top, but it just didn’t go that way. We just had to roll with the punches.”
The lead doubled 2:25 later when Ball beat the Ghosts goalie.
“We fell back on our heels a little bit for a good minute in that first half which allowed them to get a corner,” Abington coach Katie Smalls said. “They capitalized on that and they were able to score and once that happened the momentum shifted and (they quickly) scored again on a great direct shot. We called a timeout and the next five minutes we played great again between the 25s. It was just a mental lapse for that one minute time period, really hurt us for them to get those two goals. It carried them into the second half.”
Two-and-a-half minutes into the second half, the Trojans (5-1-1, 4-1 SOL American) made it 3-0 on another corner. Donofrio inserted to Havrilla, who passed to Ball. Ball maneuvered around a defender and scored an incredible, off-balance goal.
“We’ve been practicing (corners) a lot more in practice,” Havrilla said. “Even if it doesn’t go exactly as planned, we’ve been playing it out, which I think has been helping with just going with the punches, rolling with the flow. Whatever comes we just have to go with it.”
Ella Hummel finished the scoring with 7:52 remaining to make it a 4-0 advantage.
In addition to the two goals, Wiss had other scoring opportunities on corners, including Ball hitting the post while looking for a hat trick.
The Ghosts (1-4-1, 1-3-1 SOL American) couldn’t get much going offensively. They managed one shot on goal in the game and earned zero corners.
“We’re definitely struggling to get our stick on the ball once we get it down into the circle,” Small said. “Our midfield of Paige Doyle, Camryn Stewart and Aly Campbell are doing a great job of transitioning the ball from the back-end up to the front. We’re just looking to find who has the ability to get their stick on the ball once they get it up there and make a move to put it into the net. We’re a whole new forward line. I have a freshman up there, there’s a sophomore up there. We’re very young. Hopefully we’ll eventually get there with a few more practices under our belt.”
“Each game we’re definitely improving. Between the 25s we’re a solid team. We have great passing sequences. We track the ball really well, but we really need to concentrate on the two-thirds underneath the 25s. We really need to work on getting the ball in the cage and our recovery defense and marking better within the circle and keeping our feet out so the ball doesn’t go in the net.”
“One of the things I told them was that they couldn’t give up any corners because Paige (Doyle) has a wicked shot,” Gil said. “I said let’s not give her the opportunity to put one in. They did a really good job, the defense, to make stops a lot further out from the circle and not give up those corners.”
