September 24, 2014

Stuart Field Hockey Showing Resilience, Aims to Improve Communication, Defense

ON THE RUN: Stuart Country Day field hockey player Julia ­Maser heads upfield in 2013 action. Last Saturday, Maser and the Tartans got stymied as they fell 4-0 at Princeton High to drop to 1-4. Stuart will look to get on the winning track as it plays at Blair Academy on September 24 and at Montgomery High on September 29.(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

ON THE RUN: Stuart Country Day field hockey player Julia ­Maser heads upfield in 2013 action. Last Saturday, Maser and the Tartans got stymied as they fell 4-0 at Princeton High to drop to 1-4. Stuart will look to get on the winning track as it plays at Blair Academy on September 24 and at Montgomery High on September 29. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Playing at powerful Princeton High last Saturday, the Stuart Country Day School field hockey team dug an early hole, yielding a goal in the first five minutes of the contest.

Stuart head coach Missy Bruvik saw that her squad was unsettled in the early going.

“I thought it took us 10 minutes to get going,” said Bruvik. “There was a lot going on around with the Princeton homecoming. I told them to focus on the field and not worry about those other elements.”

Although Stuart went on to fall 4-0 to once-beaten PHS (5-1), Bruvik liked the way her players responded after the slow start.

“I thought after we settled down, we did a better job,” said Bruvik, whose team dropped to 1-4 with the setback.

“We did some things well, we looked to transfer the ball. Even though they had two goals in the second half, I thought we did a better job of trying to pressure them and almost getting to some of those balls.”

Senior goalie Harlyn Bell and sophomore defender Izzy Engel held up well under the relentless PHS pressure.

“I thought Harlyn Bell was outstanding in the goal cage, she had a great game,” said Bruvik of Bell, who recorded 23 saves on the afternoon. “Izzy Engel played a good game at center back. She was on the ball.”

The Tartans produced a very good effort earlier in the week when they fell 4-3 in overtime to WW/P-N.

“I thought we played really well against North the other day,” said Bruvik, reflecting on the September 18 contest in which Stuart got goals from Cate Donahue, Ali Hannah, and Tori Hannah.

“We scored the first goal and they scored three. We came back and scored in the last minute to tie it up. That was a good game; we showed resiliency.”

With games at Blair Academy on September 24 and at Montgomery High on September 29, the Tartans will need to show more resiliency.

“I still challenge the kids to communicate more on the field,” said Bruvik. “Also in our defensive circle, we need tight marking. We need to work on conditioning. We had girls who were tired early playing at this pace.”