Cabrini’s women’s field hockey fell to Salisbury on Saturday, September 16 at Edith Robb Dixon Field by a score of 3-0. On perhaps one of the hottest game days so far this season, both teams sweat it out, as the advantage with possession constantly hung in the balance.
“[The game was] a big test of our teamwork and our defense for sure,” senior defender Ryan Taylor said after the game.
Salisbury is currently ranked third overall in Division III field hockey and Taylor felt good about how her team played, despite the loss.
Taylor said, “[We] did well and rose to the occasion.”
In the first period, Cabrini swiftly held back Salisbury after Salisbury had gained huge amounts of momentum. There were multiple times where Taylor herself pushed the ball back almost half the field length. Yet, Salisbury was well trained in recovery and quickly made up for lost ground, despite the aggressive offense which also came at them.
The back and forth nature of the game clearly shows that both teams were tough and not backing down at all. Both teams got to each other’s goal line many times and were either kept from scoring by the clock, possession changes or the great defense from their goalies; however, by the end of the first period, Salisbury had scored twice, once by Emily Lemanski and another goal by Arielle Johnston.
“One thing better we can do is to capitalize when we have the ball,” senior midfielder Brittany Smith said. Both Smith and midfielder Maddy Worley were very involved in the game. Their aggressive offense kept Salisbury at bay on multiple occasions.
Despite the loss, Smith was satisfied with the game.
“Layers is key to the way we play and we played really well as a team,” Smith said. “This is a very mental sport, so we have to learn to stay confident and stay at that level of toughness each time.”
When the second half started, Worley immediately had possession of the ball and got it right to their goal line, but could not score before another possession change.
“I think we always needed just one more person to just get that touch and help direct it into the cage and we were so close every single time, but this game was definitely great practice for that, especially against such hard defense,” Taylor said.
When Salisbury took the wheel, their team struck hard and they managed to break Cabrini’s defense yet again, scoring their third goal and securing their win.
As far as the role of the heat goes, you could see players on both teams get more worn down during the second period. The number of cards given, possession changes and other penalties went up for both sides. Cabrini may be expected to perform better once the weather becomes more moderate.
“The heat definitely had an effect on the game,” Smith said.
