WHS varsity field hockey narrowly falls to Thornton Academy

By Matt Pascarella

Windham’s varsity field hockey team took the field on Monday, Oct. 7 at Thornton Academy in Saco. The Lady Eagles’ intensity was there, but Thornton Academy scored early and although Windham battled back, they ultimately lost, 2-0.

Windham junior Abby Trainor easily navigates past two
opponents during a varsity field hockey game at
Thornton Academy on Monday, Oct. 7.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

“I thought we played pretty good, and we dominated for most of it,” said Windham senior Zoe Dries. “The balls were definitely 50-50, I think we just couldn’t capitalize on the shots. Our movement in the middle of the field was good – we went to a lot of the balls. I thought we overall played pretty good; we just couldn’t capitalize on the actual shots or getting the tipoff. I think it was the weather (we struggled with) and ... it’s been a while since we practiced together. We had possession for a lot of it and kept our heads up and kept playing hard even though it wasn’t going our way. Down the line we need to work on looking up before we pass and making sure we see a teammate before passing.”

Windham had a solid start and moved the ball up the field; defense minimized scoring chances for Thornton Academy.

WHS offense had several shots at goal, but nothing got by Thornton Academy’s goaltender. The game was scoreless after one quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, Dries had a shot at goal almost immediately. Windham remained aggressive.

Partway through the second quarter, Thornton Academy scored and with a minute left in the half, scored again, leading, 2-0, at halftime.

“We’re in this stretch right now where we have a lot of lulls between games,” said Windham varsity coach Cory DiDonato. “A lot of kids are getting over illness and depending on the game, it’s been a while since every kid has showed up 100 percent ready mentally. I think (Thornton) and Massabesic always gets in our heads a little bit. I don’t know why because we’re a very good team. We have amazing leaders on the team, leading by example showing what it looks like to work hard, what it looks like to get to the ball first, our passes have come a really long way. We’re good at transferring the ball, and our corners have come a really long way; we’ve got some really skilled players. Pockets are just getting to the ball first, we tend to back off and wait to see if we can stop it, instead of going to break up the play, we’re still working on that one.”

Windham was just as intense in the second half; they worked to be first to the ball and made strong attempts at penalty corner shots. WHS junior goalie Olivia McPherson had a nice save in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Windham fired multiple shots at goal, while defense mostly kept Thornton Academy away from Windham’s goal. McPherson had more saves. Windham junior Abby Trainor fired an elevated shot that whacked the back of the goal, but because of its height was considered a high ball and the goal was no good – it was an incredible shot though.

“I think we need to improve on our passing,” said Trainor. “Sometimes we do get stuck on one side and that’s what we’ve been working with in practice is to spread out and make longer passes. I think offensively we need to get back more than we should have. We got the quality shots off; it just didn’t go our way. Tough setbacks like this will help us excel forward throughout the season. Really well tonight was moving the ball up quick, especially on our free hits ... forwards do a really good job of collecting it and doing their own pulls and stuff to get into the circle to try to get a corner or a shot off, that was one of our best things, especially using the sidelines of those big passes. Now that we use the outside, it’s longer distance for us and we hit it in which exceeds our scoring opportunities.” <