Moxie Edged in Overtime for Second Consecutive Week

MARION, MA - Moxie fell to Tabor in overtime last Saturday, 3-2. After a long two hour bus ride, Moxie had a slow start in the cold weather, but came back strong in the second half to tie it up. The team’s loss puts them at 6-6 on the season.Moxie’s slow beginning put them in a big hole early that they could not climb out of.“We started out flat and Tabor scored within the first few minutes of the game, so we were put back on our heels from the beginning,” upper Marley Jenkins said. This has proven to be one of Big Red’s biggest problems this season, as the team has been prone to slow starts and big second halves.“We usually just start off really badly and then work our way back and which just makes so much more work for ourselves. If we started every game off the way we end every game, we wouldn’t have to compensate for the really slow start in the beginning,” lower Noa Siegel said.Tabor scored their first goal in the first few minutes of the game, and a second later in the first half. “Our first half was not good at all, but we started to play more to our potential after our coach called a timeout and we took a deep breath,” Jenkins said. Lower Bronwyn Shields played a great game for the Big Red defense, keeping Tabor on their own end of the field. “Bronwyn had a really good game, she was always solid on the left wing and had a lot of important defensive tackles,” Jenkins added.Moxie came back strong in the second half, dominating Tabor and keeping the ball in their end for the whole half. In the first five minutes of the half, Moxie got seven corners in their favor. Upper Az Nalbandian played a rejuvenated game in goal during the second half, and had a great game with a few strategic saves.Senior co-captain Hannah Wellington scored Big Red’s first goal and upper Morgan Mckiernan scored the second, pushing the game into overtime. Tabor managed to get the ball in near Moxie’s goal, and despite Big Red’s best efforts to pressure the net, the ball slipped into goal by a weird bounce off of Nalbandian’s pads.“We played really well in overtime; the shot was just unlucky,” Siegel said.Even though Tabor won, Moxie had better overall skills. Tabor was very aggressive and intense, always moving to the ball fast, but Big Red’s stick and field skills were better than theirs. With the major set back of their slow start, Moxie didn’t have a lot of time to push for the lead.“Tabor was better than usual and had some really strong girls who could push our players around. We usually are a more skilled team and other teams take advantage of that by shoving and hacking,” Wellington said.Moxie has a tough week coming up with three games in four days. Even though they might be a little worn out, they hope the extra preparation will help them beat Andover.“We want to gain some momentum before Andover. The last 3 years, we have gone into overtime with Andover and lost once and tied twice, so we are really looking to beat them this year, especially for the seniors last game with Exeter,” Jenkins said.