By Mike White
Staff Writer
The Lakewood High School field hockey team was winless through its first 17 games of the season. Still, team members remained optimistic despite the losses.
At no time were they tempted to quit playing. They showed up and fought no matter who the opponent was.
In its final regular-season game, the Lady Piners put a winning touch on a difficult season. Lakewood scored two first-half goals en route to a 2-0 shutout over visiting Ranney School Monday afternoon.
The Lady Piners finish the season with a 1-15-2 record.
"The girls were truly excited after beating Ranney," first-year Lakewood coach Darren Lee said. "When the final whistle blew at the game’s conclusion, the girls didn’t know what to do. They just stopped and looked at each other. I think they were in disbelief. It took an entire season to get this one victory, but they hung in there and the hard work paid off. It was a great way to close out the season."
Junior forward Jill Loefller scored both of Lakewood’s goals. Both scores came off penalty corners.
Loefller gave the Piners a 1-0 lead at the 21:32 mark when she one-timed a pass from Brittany Watson.
"She hit a rocket of a shot," Lee said. "She probably has the best shot on the team. The play came off a corner and she just rifled a shot past the keeper. I think that goal gave us momentum."
Lakewood scored again before halftime. With 14:40 remaining in the first half, again Loefller tallied to provide the Piners with an insurance goal. Loefller scooped up a pass from Lindsay Cassar and stuffed the ball into the far side of the cage.
"We had a two-goal lead and our defense really stepped it up from there," Lee said. "We did a good job of limiting their shots on goal. The last couple of games, we’ve done a very good job of protecting our goal. We needed to improve at the offensive end. "
Junior goalie Heyling Mayorga made seven saves in goal for Lakewood. Lee cited the fine defensive play of Megan Magnapara, Angie Loehwing and Nicole King as keys to the victory.
Midfielders Jackie Guy, Heather Riddle and Katie Sutton did a solid job of getting the ball into the offensive end.
"There were a lot of bright spots in today’s game," Lee said.
Lee will lose nine of his 24 girls to graduation or transfer for the 2003 season. He said he would like to see field hockey as a year-round sport at Lakewood.
"I’d like to see if we could get the girls involved in the sport 12 months a year," Lee said. "We’re looking into trying to get an indoor facility where we can work-out and develop stick skills. That’s the only way we can develop a program. We need to get a group of kids who are committed to the sport. I think that we can do that here."
Last Friday, Lakewood played Neptune to a 1-1 tie. The Piners had a 1-0 lead with five minutes remaining in the game before Neptune scored the tying goal. Loefller scored for Lakewood on an assist from Guy.
"We played a very solid game," Lee said. "I thought we had it won, but they managed to score late in the game to tie it."