Printer Friendly Version - Guilford Field Hockey Hitting its Stride

Senior midfielder Bryce Makula and the Guilford field hockey squad has won four games in a row, while outscoring its opponents by a 20-0 mark in that span. Photo by Wesley Bunnell/The Courier

As it enters the home stretch of the regular season, the Guilford field hockey team is hitting its stride while navigating through life in the Southern Connecticut Conference. The Indians claimed two more victories in last week’s action to raise their record to 9-1-1 on the campaign.

Last year, Guilford won 17 games on its way to advancing the Class M State Tournament final, where the Indians lost to New Canaan. Guilford got out to a 5-0-1 start this season and then lost to Cheshire, but the Indians responded by winning their next four subsequent contests, including a signature 2-0 win over Lauralton Hall, and have outscored the opposition 20-0 in the stretch. Most recently, Guilford earned a 7-0 home win over Lyman Hall on Oct. 10 and posted a 2-0 shutout at Mercy on Oct. 13. The Indians now gear up for their final few games of the regular season in preparation for the playoffs.

“We want to put a dent into the three teams in the SCC that are always tough for us in Branford, Hand, and Cheshire and try to beat them in the regular season,” Head Coach Kitty Palmer said. “I’d like to see us progress in the SCC Tournament, which then leads into states. We want to make a run in states similar to last year. We lost to Cheshire 4-0 already, and we were starting to play better later in the game, so hopefully, that game was the turning point for us. We hope to avoid a situation like that game again and have some confidence going into a game. We want to prove we can play with the upper-echelon teams.”

The Indians didn’t designated any captains for this year, but they do feature a deep fleet of leaders with nine seniors on their roster. Guilford has senior leadership at every layer of the field with Olivia Clarke at forward, as well as midfielder Bryce Makula and defender Mallory Peters. Clarke was an All-SCC First Team, All-State, and All-American honoree in 2016.

“Olivia is again having a great year, plus Bryce had been a leader for us. Mallory has been a leader on defense,” said Palmer. “We have leaders in all three sections of the field, which is great.”

Second-year varsity veteran Emily Torre and fellow junior Janie Danaher are backing up Peters on defense, while junior forward Celia Mariconda brings an offensive spark at left wing. Freshman forward Hannah Tillier has emerged by netting five goals in her rookie season, and sophomore Ella Stanley is another strong forward for the Indians. Junior goalie Nicolette Spotlow is new to the cage, but Coach Palmer said that she is displaying a great grasp of the position.

“Emily has had a great year on defense and scored some goals for us on corners. Celia has also scored big goals for us. Hannah has been a pleasant surprise. She contributed right away by scoring our first goal of the season,” Palmer said. “Ella scored two huge goals, with one to earn us a tie and a game-winning goal against [Sacred Heart Academy]. This is the first year Nicolette has played goalie, but she’s stepped right in and contributed to our success, and a big feat for her was the Lauralton Hall shutout. Janie is starting to come into her own.”

In last week’s games, senior Maggie Marrone played goal and had the shutout against Lyman Hall, after which Spotlow shut out Mercy. Makula scored both of Guilford’s goals in the Mercy victory. Clarke had a pair of goals versus Lyman Hall.

Coach Palmer thinks she’s seen some moments in the last few contests where the Indians have reached their prime potential. Palmer added that Guilford is getting an extra boost from several underclass athletes who are getting valuable varsity reps under their belt and are looking to help the team have another productive postseason.

“Some of the younger kids have had to step up this year. Those girls have gotten a lot of experience, which will hopefully help us moving forward,” Palmer said. “It was a good sign to get the Lauralton Hall win after the Cheshire loss. We had a lot of shots on Lauralton, so hopefully, that is also a good sign. I’m hoping the experience that those girls have now will help us meet our challenges and do good against the better teams in the league.”

This is Kitty Palmer’s 36th season as the Guilford field hockey squad’s head coach.

The Indians’ assistant coaches this fall are Kiernan Willis (JV coach), Ben Willis (freshman coach), and Tara Slowik (volunteer assistant).

Guilford has five shutouts this year and has allowed just 0.44 goals per game in its nine victories.

Hannah Tillier is making an impact as a freshman forward for the Indians’ field hockey team, which earned a 7-0 win against Lyman Hall and shut out Mercy 2-0 in last week’s matchups. Photo by Wesley Bunnell/The Courier