Windham field hockey battles it out against Cheverus

By Matt Pascarella

In a game where the Windham varsity field hockey persevered right up until the end, they showed that they have strong defense against a tough team, but fell 7-0 to Cheverus on Saturday, Oct. 7 at Saint Joseph’s College. The score is only one part of the story, as Windham’s defense was incredible and Windham sophomore goalie Olivia McPherson recorded an impressive 33 saves.

Sophomore Abigail Trainor of Windham takes the ball toward
the goal during a varsity field hockey game at Saint Joseph's
College against Cheverus.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

“Definitely was a team effort, with team defense and the goalie,” said McPherson. “I think we all did very well with midis and forwards coming back into the circle, everyone did great marking up and had great defense. We all worked together and pushed through to the end to make it the best we could. We all had to stay positive and remember it’s just a game; we can push through, we’ll have better games, it’s just one game.”

Cheverus scored twice early in the first quarter. They moved the ball well, and their defense was solid, but Windham’s defense rose to the occasion and kept Cheverus’ score low for a large portion of the game.

Windham played aggressively and the offense took advantage of any opportunity they could to go toward Cheverus’ goal.

In the second quarter, Windham took a shot at goal and Windham’s defense remained strong the entire game. Windham stayed with the ball and worked hard to be first to it. At the half, Cheverus led 3-0.

“We’ve been practicing a lot as a team and we think we have good game and work ethic; we can come together and have a good game,” said Windham junior Ava Gerrity. “As long as we’re having fun, we’re playing well, we can keep our heads up and have a good game. Even with a loss, we still played amazing.”

According to Gerrity, communication and keeping a good spirit throughout the game were two things that went well. They also played 100 percent right up until the end.

In the second half, Windham did not let a small lead get them down and it immediately pressured Cheverus. Although Cheverus was able to score a few more goals before the final buzzer, Windham defense limited their abilities. Cheverus seemed frustrated that they couldn’t score a lot of goals in the second half.

“We came in with realistic expectations,” said Windham varsity field hockey coach Cory DiDonato. “Our goal was to keep their goals as low as we could and to hopefully pop one in ourselves. Communication and marking went much better than it normally does. Defense is something we’ve been working really hard on this year, and I think with the help and leadership of Olivia [McPherson] it really helped get the defense in a good mindset. I’m really proud of them, it’s the best I’ve seen them play defensively all season. The key for them is knowing that they are always in it; they’re going to know how strong they are defensively and how strong our goalie is, they can rely on everyone [doing] their job.” <