Field Hockey Notebook

Somers Impresses in Early Going, Lakeland Still Romping

By Tony Pinciaro & Ray Gallagher

SOMERS had a plan coming into the 2019 varsity field hockey season.

“Our team knew what we had to do to improve so we could do even better than we did last year,” said Captain Erin Clark. “We worked very hard during preseason and knew that to do well this season we needed to always put 100 effort into all we were doing.”

The determination and attention to detail during preseason has resulted in a quick Somers start as the Tuskers have won four of their first five games.

Somers improved to 4-1 with a pair of shutouts – 5-0 over Pearl River and 4-0 over Harrison. Somers, annually, has a difficult schedule, so the Tuskers wanted to be focused from day one of preseason in order to be ready for the opposition.

“We knew that with our schedule this year, we needed to work really hard in each and every game we played ,” Clark said. “This is true especially in games we lost last year that we felt we should have won.”

Somers’ loss came to Scarsdale in the Tuskers’ tournament, so instead of dwelling on it, Clark said the team learned from it.

“Overall, we learned that we need to move the ball faster and really execute on our shots,” Clark explained. “Scarsdale is a very fast team and to get the ball up the field against a team like them we needed to move the ball even faster than the game before and transfer the field more.”

While the offense has been racking up goals, the defense has been air-tight, especially against Pearl River and Harrison. The shutout of Pearl River was sweet revenge for Somers as the Pirates eliminated the Tuskers, in a shoot-out, in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 Section 1 Class B Field Hockey Championship.

“Having two shutouts, recently, and especially against Pearl River, was a big win for us as a team,” Clark said. “After losing to them in sectionals last year, we knew this year we had to give it our all on the field.”

LAKELAND continued its early-season roll, winning three more games and improving to 6-0 under Coach Sharon Sarsen.

The 10-time reigning Section 1 Class B champion Hornets swept the Rockland County leg – 9-0 over Nanuet and 5-0 over Pearl River. Lakeland closed out the week with a 9-2 triumph of Section 2’s Guilderland, which became the first team to score on Lakeland this season.

“The way we’ve taken to everything Sars has told us and put it out there on the field is really awesome and shows how coachable our team is as a whole,” said senior and Captain Jenna McCrudden

Emma Fon led Lakeland with a career-high four goals against Guilderland. Keirra Ettere added two goals and two assists, McCrudden finished with a goal and two assists and Laure Salazar and Frankie Fava each scored.

Pearl River limited Lakeland to five goals, the Hornets’ second-lowest offensive showing of the season. Mamaroneck held Lakeland to a season-low four goals.

Salazar and Fon each netted two goals and Emma Halderman contributed one goal and two assists.

“Getting contributions from many players, offensively, shows our depth as a team and shows how everyone is capable of scoring,” McCrudden said.

Lakeland began the week with a win over Nanuet as McCrudden had a hat trick and two assists. Halderman and Fon had two goals apiece and Salazar and Ettere each had a goal.

Lakeland returns to action Saturday as the Hornets play Biddeford (Me.), 3 p.m., in the Max Field Hockey National Invitational in Pennsylvania. Lakeland will play Dexter (Mi.), Sunday, 10 a.m.

“The entire program is so excited to be recognized as a top team in the country,” McCrudden said. “Going into this tournament, our goal is to keep improving and getting better as a team, not necessarily win.”

PUTNAM VALLEY allowed one goal in two games, but came away with a split as it beat Briarcliff, 2-0, but dropped a 1-0 verdict to North Salem.

“North Salem is always a very disciplined and tough team to play against,” Putnam Valley Coach Courtney Hyndman said. “I think that our team played pretty well against them, despite the loss. The girls had a slower start then we would have hoped for, but picked up intensity in the second half.”

Isabel Healy made six saves against North Salem. Sydney Goldberg scored a goal and assisted on Jessica Marro’s goal against Briarcliff.

“It was a great defensive effort by Lauren Seiler, Angelica Ordoñez, Julia Cunningham and Brianna Gambichler,” Hyndman said. Putnam Valley sports a 2-3 record.

HEN HUD opened its week with a loss to Pelham, but bounced back to earn a 2-2 tie with Sleepy Hollow. Logan Gouglemann scored a goal and assisted on Joyce Guevara’s goal. Jillian Attinelly registered an assist and goalies Olivia Doorley and Caroline Cornel combined for 10 saves. Hen Hud is now 1-1-2 this season.

MAHOPAC has shown improvement this season, including a 1-0 win at YORKTOWN last Friday. The winning goal was scored by Krista Dietz, assisted by Carly Ravoli. Indian goalie Katie Iarussi notched three saves for the shutout. The Indians followed that up with a 3-2 loss at White Plains Saturday, getting a goal from Ava Jennings and a goal and an assist by Dietz, who is emerging as a legit scoring threat. Iarussi stood on her head with 20 saves in the loss.

CARMEL was able to muster a 4-3 win over the same White Plains club, getting two goals apiece from Kylie Rosenquest and Caitlin Tully, who added two goals in a 3-2 loss to Fox Lane earlier in the week.

Local coaches from the Northern Westchester/Putnam County region are encouraged to contact Tony Pinciaro at tfinch23@optonline.net for inclusion in our weekly notebook.