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11/18/2019 11:00 PMThe Westbrook field hockey squad’s Class S State Tournament run came to a close with narrow loss to Granby in a semifinal game at Wethersfield High School on Nov. 19. No. 4 seed Westbrook lost to top-seeded Granby by a 1-0 score in double overtime. The defeat put the Knights’ final overall record at 15-3-3 on the season.
Westbrook put up a valiant effort against a difficult opponent in the No. 1 seed Granby. The Knights had faced the Bears in their first meeting during the regular season, and the teams tied in a scoreless contest. This time, the two squads were scoreless after regulation and the game wasn’t ultimately decided until Granby got the contest’s lone goal in the first minute of the second overtime period.
Head Coach Janet Dickey felt proud of what her squad had accomplished this year, even though the Knights fell short of reaching the finals.
“The team was awesome. Outside of the fact it was the seniors’ last high school game, they all knew that they gave Granby a game, and they could hang their hats on that,” Coach Dickey said. “I told them they should be proud of they way they played this season. It’s a bummer we didn’t get to go to finals, but we had a lot to be proud of this year.”
Coach Dickey thought her squad handled themselves well, and that the Knights just got beat by a great team in Granby. If the game came down to a missed opportunity, or a strange play, it would have been a much harder pill to swallow according to Coach Dickey.
“Granby scored less than a minute into the second overtime on a beautiful shot. I’d rather lose on something like that—a gorgeous shot—than something else like someone kicks it in and no one sees it,” Dickey said. “It’s tough to take a loss when you feel like it’s something that wasn’t meant to be. That shot was meant to be, and let’s face it, with Lauren Horne in the cage you’re going to have to do that to score one on her.”
The game came down to one goal, and the Westbrook defense played outstanding in front of their junior goalie. Granby had 20 shots on goal, and Horne stopped nearly all of them. Senior captain Kendall Orlowski also had a valiant effort in the backfield.
“Lauren Horne had 16 saves in the game, and Kendall Orlowski, she played like a brick wall again” Dickey said. “She didn’t want to let anything near Lauren, and she was doing everything she could.”
Granby maintained pretty solid control throughout the contest, but due to the defensive play and goaltending of the Knights, it was still anyone’s game. Coach Dickey saw her team break through for a couple of chances and even had a shot ring off the post. If Westbrook had even held on for just that last overtime period, they would have had a solid chance in a shootout.
“We had some breaks up field and had one hit the post and spin out. I think Alex broke in from the 25. We broke with numbers a bunch of times, but it was a matter of getting a clean shot off,” said Dickey. “They just limited our ability to do that. There was a lot of middle of the field play, and at any given time, one ball in regulation could’ve done it. In overtime, we were hoping we could hang on to get to breakaways. With Lauren in net, I liked our shot if we got there.”
Coach Dickey was proud of the play of all her senior captains Lexi Koplas, Olivia Hartzell, Young, and Orlowski in this game as well as throughout the season. Their legacy will be felt for years to come according to Dickey. After graduating some key contributors to a successful squad, these four captains stepped up and took the reins enthusiastically, and that paid serious dividends.
“I think it’s really this year’s seniors that made that success happen this year. Looking forward to next year, we’ve set a standard that we need to uphold,” Dickey said. “I have a lot of good juniors stepping into big roles, and they’ve had a good example set by these seniors. I’m just really super proud of how well they’ve done, and I’m excited to go forward to next year.”