This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
11/17/2019 11:00 PMThe Westbrook field hockey squad made their way into the Class S State semifinals with a couple of wins last week. The Knights earned a 1-0 victory over Weston on Nov. 12, and then defeated Stonington two days later by a score of 1-0. Westbrook is fresh off a trip to the finals in the Shoreline Conference Tournament, where they lost to North Branford, and now the Knights are trying to make their way the state final for another shot at a postseason title. With the wins, Westbrook improved its overall record to 15-2-3.
Head Coach Janet Dickey and her fourth-seeded Westbrook squad had a lengthy first round matchup with No. 13 seed Weston. Neither team was able to put the ball into the net during regulation. So, with the game tied at 0-0 at the end of two halves, Westbrook and Weston had to play two more 10-minute overtime periods. When the game remained scoreless after twenty more minutes, the game had to be decided by a shootout.
The Knights had their venue shifted to the Indian River Complex for the contest versus the Trojans. That change didn’t play to Westbrook’s strengths, but Coach Dickey thought that Weston proved a strong opponent for her squad regardless. That showed in the long, drawn-out match.
“We got moved from the grass to the turf field because of the weather. Our home field advantage got taken away, but we didn’t let it deter us,” Dickey said. “Weston was a very good team. They played us very hard and went out with nothing to lose. I would say they were an incredibly underrated No. 13 seed. They didn’t play like one.”
In the shootout, Weston was able to score first, but afterward, junior goalie Lauren Horne didn’t allow another ball into the net. Senior Alex Young scored to keep Westbrook alive in the shootout 1-1. After that, junior Bailey Roberts scored the game-winning goal to give the Knights their 1-0 victory over Weston.
Luckily, Westbrook had just ran through practicing that precise shootout scenario at the behest of assistant coach Emily McCabe-Algers and had its best shootout lineups organized and ready to go. According to Coach Dickey the fact that the lineup included Young and Roberts made a huge difference.
“I feel awesome. I was so happy that Em made us do them. We practiced the day before in practice. We were able to pick the order and the shooters for those rounds. Alex Young had to put the ball in the net for us to keep going, and Bailey is very calm and collected pretty much all the time. We knew she would be cool as a cucumber,” said Dickey. “It was good for us to know who we could pick to be able to do it. It was great to have that sense of calmness going into it.”
Horne also had a heavy hand in the Knights’ win. She notched a shutout through regulation and two overtime periods. Even though Horne allowed one penalty shootout goal into the net, she shut the door from that point forward.
“There weren’t a lot of shots on either side. Lauren made a diving save across the cage to keep us alive in overtime,” said Dickey. “Lauren got the feel for how she needed to handle the shootout and after that one goal, nothing else went in. She let one in from the second shooter, and that was it.”
On Nov. 14, Westbrook hosted No. 5 seed Stonington, and the Knights went out with the objective of giving Horne a bit of a breather.
“I think playing on Tuesday really prepared us for that Thursday game. Lauren had to play two and half hours in a game of tense hockey,” Dickey said. “The mantra for the defensive line against Stonington was, ‘No shots on Lauren.’ We held them to zero shots, and they only had one corner. Lauren called a couple of balls, and the defense said, ‘No, you’re not touching it.’”
Westbrook got its go ahead goal from senior captain Kendall Orlowski, who scored her first goal this season in a big moment to get the 1-0 advantage that ultimately held as the final score. Against Weston, the Knights’ junior players Horne and Roberts came up huge to pull out a victory, and the senior captains wanted to show their gratitude for their contributions by stepping up against Stonington.”
“I think it was a really good group effort. Alex played really well, and she had four people on her pretty much the entire second half. All the seniors really stepped up. That was something we worked on in practice. We said the two juniors were the reason we were still playing.”
Westbrook went up against top-seeded Granby in the Class S semifinals at Wethersfield High School on Nov. 20 (after press time). The Knights faced off with Granby at the beginning of the year and the teams played to a 0-0 tie. That tie proved the only blemish on an otherwise perfect regular season by the Bears. With a win over Granby, Westbrook would face the winner between No. 2 seed North Branford and No. 3 seed Immaculate in the final at Wethersfield High School on Saturday, Nov. 23.
Coach Dickey likes her chances against Granby this time around.
“I feel like we are a different team now than we were then. Our lineup is completely different, and I think we’re peaking at the right time,” Dickey said. “[Granby’s] been working on their finishing. So they think that they need to get that down against us, but Lauren has only given up a few goals all year. I think that there is a lot more to finishing in the circle with our goalie and defense in there. I just think that the girls are all playing for each other right now. That’s a great thing to be a part of.”
• The Westbrook field hockey team’s roster features senior captains Olivia Hartzell, Lexi Koplas, Kendall Orlowski, and Alex Young; juniors Marguerite Bartlett, Cierra Brundage, Megan Greaves, Lauren Horne, Brooke Neri, Bailey Roberts, and Karen Sicha; sophomores Marina Amenta, Juliana Gerena, Gabriella Koplas, and Samantha Nunez; freshmen Delaney Belcourt, Mayte Calle, Caroline Dias, Lisa Litevich, Brooke Millburne, Myan Nguyen, and Halley Pierson. The team’s scorekeeper is freshman Carley Thompson.
• This year marks Janet Dickey’s 30th season as head coach of the Knights. Westbrook’s assistant coach is Emily McCabe-Algers.
• Westbrook’s regular-season wins came against Haddam-Killingworth (8-0 and 4-0), Valley Regional (1-0 and 1-0), Killingly (4-2), Morgan (1-0 and 2-1), Fitch (2-0), Old Saybrook (1-0 and 2-0), Somers (9-0), and Stafford (1-0).
• The Knights took a 1-0 defeat to North Branford in the regular season. Westbrook also earned ties versus Granby (0-0), North Branford (2-2), and Canton (1-1).
• In the Shoreline Conference Tournament, No. 2 seed Westbrook defeated No. 3 seed Old Saybrook 1-0 in the semifinals. After that, the Knights lost a 2-1 contest against No. 1 seed North Branford in the final.