Staff Writer
The Springfield College field hockey team came into Wednesday night’s game against Williams College (4- 3) looking for its first win of the season, but fell short 3-0. However the Pride (0-7) put up a good fight in the second half after a shaky start.
Williams jumped out to an early lead when sophomore midfielder/forward, Emily Pevlini scored deep inside the circle off a pass from senior forward, Margie Fulton. The goal was scored amidst traffic in front of the net and the defense could not locate the ball. Springfield responded by playing very strong defense against the aggressive, frequent attacks by Williams. The Pride did especially well in defending the corners and not allowing many second-chance shots.
Springfield’s breakout offense worked very fast with quick passes to get out into the open, but was stopped down near the opponent’s circle by poke checks and key pass breakups by the stout Williams defense.
Springfield’s attack came mainly from the sides , and they tried to shoot the ball on net and force rebounds. The Ephs got on the board again with a second goal from Pevlini, this time assisted by freshman forward Caitlin Conlon.
The goal was scored off a turnover in the crease after the initial save was made. Right before the first half ended, Williams added another goal, this one by forward Margie Fulton, which gave the Ephs a 3-0 lead going into the half.
The Pride made their halftime adjustments and came out in the second half playing very good defense by putting pressure on the ball and forcing bad passes. Those turnovers led to some odd-man rushes, but the Williams defense would not break. An especially good offensive chance for SC came with 7:35 left to play when the Pride set up a brilliant corner, but the shot just missed the far post before it rolled out of play. The game ended in a 3-0 loss, but Springfield played excellent in the second half.
“In the second half, we did play very well,” said head coach Melissa Sharpe of the game. “But that has been our battle all year; we play a great single half of a game, but we need to play a great full game.”
The season can only go up from here for the Pride.
“We control our destiny in conference play,” Sharpe said. “There’s no question we can make a run at the tournament again.”
Nick Lovett may be reached at nlovett@springfieldcollege.edu