Field HockeyThe girls field hockey team from Hopewell Valley got mixed results from its two games this past week.
By: Matt Nalbone
First up was a match-up against Hamilton, in which the team had a stellar effort on its way to the third victory of the year. The Lady Bulldogs came out strong and had a great game, winning 3-0 for their second-shutout of the season.
Jamie Drake, Kaley Bell and Sara Webb had the goals for the Lady Bulldogs and Jess Guggenheim had an assist on the Drake goal. Guggenheim took a free hit from about 16 yards out and crossed the ball to a waiting Drake who put it home to give the team a lead they would never give up.
"It was the best game we played this year," said a proud head coach Jamie Holtz. "In a sense of jelling and playing as a team, it was our best effort. We worked well together."
Bell scored her goal after a scramble in front of the cage and Webb scored after picking up a loose ball and firing it home.
Diane Jagelabvicius was in goal, stopping all three shots she saw for the win.
"It was an all-around great game," Holtz said. "We had good stick to stick passing and our scoring was spread out. Some of our silly drills we did in practice paid off."
The next game for the girls was against Hightstown, six days after the Hamilton game. The team put forth another good effort but came up short this time, dropping a 3-1 decision to the Lady Rams.
Hopewell (3-9) scored first, but could not hold on to the lead despite putting constant pressure on their opponent.
"We came out a bit flat," Holtz said. "For 10 to 15 minutes, it was an even game. We stepped up and played a good 15 minutes down in their end where the ball never crossed the 50."
The girls finally broke through when the senior Bell scored on an assist from Drake. Hightstown would score a few minutes later to tie the score at 1-1 and that would be the score at the break.
"We still need to improve on things," Holtz commented. "The forwards weren’t getting back on time, some of the fundamentals and we were a bit unfocused.
"They scored again and it looked like we got tired. I was a little disappointed with the effort after a great win, but not seeing live competition since last Wednesday didn’t help either."
The final Hightstown goal put the game out of reach, but it enabled the coach to do something different.
"Down 3-1 with 11 minutes left we (Holtz and assistant Sara Wagner) put in the girls who didn’t play yet and told everyone to have fun," Holtz said. "We’re not working for states, but just for a record so go have fun because your now just playing because you love the game."

