After slow start, MRHS girls add another six wins to improve to 8-4-3
LINWOOD — When the Sentinel last checked in with the Mustang field hockey team, the girls were 2-2-2 and just about to add a tie with Cedar Creek.
Since then the Mustangs added six more wins against two losses to improve to 8-4-3 in the Cape-Atlantic League.
One of those losses came Friday against visiting Paul VI of the Olympic League. It was a game that saw the Eagles score in the second and fourth periods on perfectly placed penalty shots, but couldn’t convert in regular play. Mustang goalie Emma Tomlin rebuffed nine other shots to keep her team in the game.
Although coach Erin O’Connell was forceful in motivating her girls during breaks in the game, she was pleased with their refusal to give up even when their chance of beating Paul VI was out of reach.
The Mustangs scored after time ran out as they repeatedly attacked the Eagles’ goal on a penalty corner. (In field hockey, play continues even when the clock ticks down to zero to allow a penalty corner to play out.)
Lily Studer scored on an assist from Alexis DeFeo for the 2-1 final.
“I am very proud of the way we played to the last whistle. Time was out and we were able to score. That goes to show you a lot about a team,” O’Connell said.
“We have a really skilled team out there and a really skilled bench,” the coach added.
On the two penalty shots that made it past Tomlin, she said Paul VI’s Ainsley McKendrick made two very nice shots to the top of the cage.
Senior forwards Elaina Dinofa and Katherine Crozier-Carole have been leading the team this season. Dinofa has 10 goals and four assists and Crozier-Carole has eight goals and five assists.
Freshman Callie Bean is next with five goals and two assists and junior Joey Hemphill had four goals and an assist.
Aryanna Perez, a senior, and juniors Helen Malia and Talia DiDomenico have three goals each and Studer, a junior, and senior Madison Siglin had two goals each. Senior Molly McCully has four assists to go along with her one goal.
Asked about what has happened over the course of the season, O’Connell pointed to a better understanding among the players.
“I think we’ve always had team chemistry. I think that they’re really starting to figure it out, they’re starting to realize how each other plays and using each other’s strengths to help the team become successful,” she said.
O’Connell explained they have learned their teammates’ skills, playing styles and the way they communicate and have learned to play to each other’s strengths “to support each other in layers throughout the field.”
The coach noted that offensively, Dinofa is involved in most of the team’s plays and Crozier-Carole is back in the lineup going hard on every play.
She credits center-mid McCully and the numerous step-ups from defender Frankie Jacovini.
“And our goalie Emma Tomlin. I say it every time, she’s a beast in goal. She is awesome.”
The Mustangs beat Absegami 6-2 on Monday and host Ocean City at 4 p.m. Thursday before traveling to Our Lady of Mercy Academy at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 28 and to Delsea at 4 p.m. Oct. 29 to wrap their regular season.
After Friday’s games, the Mustangs were ranked 12th in power points in NJSIAA South Jersey Group III. Perennial power Moorestown (12-2-1) is at No. 1 and Hammonton (12-1-1) is No. 2.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
