Peddie playing better than 4-9 mark

FIELD HOCKEY: Dominating performances in three straight games led to only one victory for the young Falcons squad.

By: Neil Hay
   You would think three dominating performances would translate into three wins. You would think.
   But when the team is the young Peddie field hockey team, the best that could come out of these game last week was just one victory.
   Hopefully, better days are ahead for Peddie.
   "We dominated all three but won only one," said coach Leigh Wood.
   The week began back on October 8th with a 1-0 loss to visiting Hightstown. Two days later the Falcons lost 4-3 in double overtime to Princeton Day School at home. On Friday Peddie scored a 5-0 win over visiting Morristown-Beard.
   "We should have won the PDS game in regulation but lost in overtime," said Wood. "We blew it. We should have closed the door on them. Disappointed (with the loss) is not the word. Angry is more like it. We did it to ourselves. We were not hustling, not finishing. That is why we had to play overtime. We didn’t do what we had to do. We got lazy. In practice we worked a lot about not being lazy."
   With Peddie ahead 3-2 in the first overtime, PDS scored the tying goal in the final second off a corner. That set up sudden death in the second overtime period. Lauren Lodigiani had two goals for Peddie, L.A. Martin one.
   Peddie’s late-game letdown earned the Falcon stickers a tough practice on Thursday. The lessons from the loss paid dividends against Mo-Beard the next afternoon. Julie deLaurentis had three goals, and Lodigiani and Brittany Zappia one apiece. All three players are freshmen.
   "The girls played very well," said Wood, who moved deLaurentis from center half to left wing. "She was one kid who consistently did what I asked her to do in the circle."
   Of the loss to Hightstown, Wood said, "Hightstown took advantage of their opportunities and we did not. We had a lot of turnovers. We didn’t finish."
   Peddie wasted another well-played effort Wednesday and lost 1-0 to visiting Stuart. The Tartans broke a scoreless tie with a "bing-bam-boom thing" 13 minutes into the second half. The Stuart defense then made the goal stand up.
   "It was an even game," recalled Wood. "Typically we did not take advantage of our opportunities. Stuart played a very strong second half. They were very eager, with a lot of good hustle.
   "We had plenty of opportunities in the first half. We are getting better. We are just having trouble with our second effort and scoring," said Wood of her team, now 4-9.