Losses Prompt Self Evaluation

After Saturday’s loss to Chris Newport brought their losing streak to three consecutive games, the Cardinals salvaged hopes for their season with a big win on Wednesday, bringing their overall season record to 4-4.

On Saturday the Cardinals suffered a 3-1 loss to the Christopher Newport Captains (7-3). Catholic was to held to no shots in the first half, and junior goalkeeper Mariah Cassilly let one get by in the by opposition Katelyn Yandle. Late in the second half, Chris Newport pulled ahead. The Cardinals managed to get three shots, one of which was sunk by junior Carley Walko. Despite the glimmer of hope by cutting the lead in half, the Captains’ Yandle reinforced the lead by scoring again just four minutes later.

 

The last few games for the Field Hockey team have been less than stellar. Despite their predicted undefeated season by the Landmark Conference, the team has found themselves stuck in a rut. When it comes to this unexpected change of pace in the season, Cassilly says, “I am not sure there was a problem with the team; we just lost some intensity. We need to get back on track, and remember why we love to play hockey, and remember our goals for the season.”

        It’s going to take a lot to turn everything around and make some changes to live up to their acclaimed reputation. According to Cassilly, the key to coming out of this slump is to, “focus on becoming more mentally tough. We are a very skilled team, but we need some work on becoming tough and persevering through the losses.”

While there is room for improvement before their upcoming game against St. Mary’s, there are strengths as a team. “The team has a very strong defense,” said Cassilly. “Our back line is very supportive on the field. Captain Ro Dixon was moved to the back line, and she has helped the defense come together and work as a unit.”

Despite this discouraging stretch of losses, the team maintains that their competition hasn’t seen anything yet. “I feel [that] we are a very strong team,” says Cassilly. “We have not shown others how amazing we really are, and we are working on getting ourselves together, and once we do I feel that we will be unstoppable!”

The team certainly proved just that on Wednesday as they shutout St. Mary’s with a final score of 4-0. The Cardinals soared above and beyond the Seahawks by having new freshman Tracey Scanlon in a position that she had not played before, but proved to earn her keep as she scored the second goal of the game unassisted at 42 minutes after freshman Liz McCormick scored the first goal at  the 40 minute mark assisted by senior and captain Ro Dixon. After these exciting goals, the team kept firing in shots by sophomore Abby Banholzer and Dixon.

      Coach Gia Cillizza attributed several factors to their win over St. Mary’s. “A lot of the losses had to do with the past five games being away,” admitted Cillizza. “While that’s no excuse, it’s still tough to bounce back after not being on your home turf. I think that the girls were just tired of losing and really wanted to come out of that low point in the season. In the previous games we were playing like high schoolers just pushing the ball forward. In the game tonight, we played our style.”

As for upcoming games, Cillizza feels the team is now back on track to achieving the preseason prediction. “I feel that now that we’ve found our rhythm we’re going to have many more successful games to come,” said Cillizza.

        The Cardinals take on Juniata at home this Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

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