This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
09/22/2016 12:00 AMThe Guilford field hockey team has played three games that have been decided by a goal and won all three of them on its way to an early 5-0 record this season. The Indians haven’t scored a ton of goals, but they’ve compensated for that by displaying great determination in both games and practices, making Kitty Palmer one happy head coach.
Palmer’s squad went 8-7-1 for the regular season last year before losing to Hand and Avon in its opening contests of the SCC and Class M tournaments, respectively. Although the Indians have only scored 11 goals in five games thus far, they’ve been outshooting most of their opponents and recently recorded a huge win by handing non-conference foe Haddam-Killingworth its first defeat with a 2-1 victory on Sept. 21 and then defeated Amity two days later to run their mark to 5-0.
Coach Palmer feels confident that everything will fall into place nicely for her club if Guilford continues to showcase the same drive that’s helped it start the season strong.
“We seem to be playing very well as a team. The girls off the bench are giving great effort, as well, and I know things will improve with that same effort,” said Palmer. “We have a lot of experience in important positions, and we have the potential for a good year if we execute and give good effort.”
The Indians feature contrasting levels of experience at the captain’s helm this season. Teddi Stanley is a three-year starter in the midfield, while fellow senior Cami Makula is in the midst of her first campaign in the cage. Although her captains are different in that regard, Coach Palmer said that Stanley and Makula bring plenty of common ground to their leadership roles.
“Both captains have been extremely organized in working with the rest of the team since the summer. They even organized a special spring recreation camp with the town. I’ve never seen captains have an idea like that. They are both very inclusive to the rest of the team,” said Coach Palmer. “Cami has worked very hard in the offseason to improve her skills. Teddi brings a lot of experience at center mid, so we will depend on her a lot.”
Guilford returns a strong tandem to spearhead the offense this year in junior center forward Olivia Clarke, who was a 2015 First Team All-SCC and All-State selection, plus junior midfielder Bryce Makula. Both athletes scored two goals between the Indians’ first three contests and then Clarke had a hand in each goal during the Haddam-Killingworth victory. Celia Mariconda put Guilford ahead 1-0 at 18:17 of the first half following an assist from Clarke, who later netted the game-winner unassisted with 28:47 remaining in regulation. Cami Makula made six stops for the Indians, who will also have senior Julia Ellman anchoring the midfield with two seasoned veterans in senior Kendra Luden and junior Mallory Peters on defense. Luden was a Second Team All-Conference selection last year.
“We will look to Olivia and Bryce to lead our offense this season,” said Palmer. “Kendra and Mallory will be our leaders on defense and we really have experience sprinkled throughout the field, so we are just hoping to put it all together.”
Against Amity in a 3-1 win on Sept. 23, Mariconda scored again, along with Ellman and sophomore Janie Danaher, who notched her first varsity goal.
As the Indians look to get back to both postseason tournaments this fall, they’ll once again have to do so while facing a deep talent pool in the SCC, a league that’s already seen some prizefights among its heavyweights in the campaign’s first few weeks.
“It’s been a while since we’ve beaten Hand, so we want to play well versus them this year. Branford seems to be the team as they’ve already beaten Cheshire, Lauralton Hall, and Hand. Those games will be good indicators to see where we are. We’d love to make both the SCC and state tournaments and go further because, with that senior leadership, it could be a good year,” said Palmer. “We’ve outshot teams, but we haven’t had a lot of goals to show for it, so we have to convert. We want to improve as the year goes on and they’ve given outstanding effort so far.”
• This is Kitty Palmer’s 35th season as the Guilford field hockey team’s head coach. Her career record is 361-190-72-10.
• The assistant coaches for the Indians this fall are Kiernan Willis (JV coach) and Ben Willis (freshman coach).
• Guilford’s state final appearances have come in 1973, 1979, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2003, and 2012. The Indians shared the Class L state title with Simsbury following a 1-1 tie in 1997.