DOWNINGTOWN—For the past several years, Downingtown West field hockey has had a stranglehold on the Ches-Mont National, racking up four straight titles. Bishop Shanahan, on the other hand, has been making steady progress each year, and came into Thursday’s game as one of just four unbeaten teams in District 1.
West’s Ashley Plaza works the ball past Shanahan’s Katie Keating (BILL RUDICK for MediaNews Group)
The Whippets, after dropping a couple of close non-league games to start the season, have reeled off four straight victories, including Thursday, when they handed the Eagles (7-1, 4-1) their first loss. West (4-2, 4-0), scored a pair of first half goals and added another in the second to earn the 3-0 shutout victory.
“Coming into this game, we knew Shanahan was going to be one of our toughest games, and they were,” said West coach Steph Bullock. “They kept coming at us all day and never let up. It was good competitive game and I was happy to see us come out on top.”
Much of the first half was back and forth, with neither team getting too much of an advantage, and the game stayed scoreless until just about the midway point of the period.
West worked the ball inside the circle, then, in the midst of a crowd, Ashley Plaza let loose a shot, which was slightly deflected. Ciara Margetich was waiting on the post behind the goalie, and tapped it in for the first score of the game.
Ciara Margetich celebrates her goal (BILL RUDICK for MediaNews Group)
“I saw the ball come across, and just tried to tap it in like we work in practice every day,” said Margetich. “We lost those couple of games early, but we stayed positive and confident, and I think we’re on a good note right now.”
Margetich found the back of the cage again with a little over six minutes to play in the half, on what was a near carbon copy of the first goal, only with Ciana Riccardo on the assist.
“We put a lot of responsibility on our younger players, despite their youth, and they really stepped up for us today,” said Bullock. “And so did our more veteran players. This was just a total team effort and a nice win for us.”
In the second half, the Eagles defense stiffened, while they picked up the intensity on offense, pressuring inside the circle a bit more, and simply making the Whippet defense work.
Kari Schmidt tries to shoot past goalie Emma Leppert (BILL RUDICK for MediaNews Group)
“We’ve had a lot of turnover from last year’s team,” said West’s Giana Jaszczak. “But we’ve been playing well, and have great chemistry. Today we just did a really nice job adjusting to what Shanahan was doing, especially the mids, clogging up the lanes and worrying less about the sidelines.”
The Whippets tacked on one final goal as time was running down. This time, it was Margetich on the assist, with Riccardo finding the back of the cage to round out the scoring at 3-0.
Shanahan won’t dwell on the loss. They are still right in the thick of things in the league, and at 7-1, are ranked No. 2 in District 1, Class 2A. This is a team that knows what it can do, and will just keep pushing forward.
“I think we could have shaken things up a bit more than we did, and given them some more different looks offensively,” said Shanahan coach Nancy Rosselli. “This is a quality team with some quality wins under its belt. I believe we’re going to go far this season. We just didn’t get it done today.”
Bishop Shanahan 0 0 –0
Downingtown West 2 1 –3
Goals: Margetich (2), Riccardo
Goalie Saves: None.
