Field Hockey Ends in Another Scoreless Tie

Big Red field hockey hauled down to Deerfield this weekend to play one of its hardest games this season. After two hard halves and an intense overtime, the girls walked away with another 0-0 tie, putting their record at 2-1-2.

This Saturday, girls’ field hockey entered into their game against tough rival Deerfield Academy, ready to put in 110 percent in order to come out with a win. Senior Noa Siegel said, “We really wanted to win. Deerfield is a tough game every year, so going into it we wanted to leave nothing behind.” With this mentality, the team was ready to play its hardest game yet.

Each team tried the other with lots of possession changes, but the ball remained in Deerfield’s half for the majority of the game. While Deerfield’s defense did a good job in their own right of preventing Exeter from scoring, it was really Exeter’s defense that shined in the game. An outstanding performance from senior and captain Allegra Grant in goal slammed the door on Deerfield’s top scorers. Upper Brittani Chapman also noted upper Bella Edo’s return from her injury as “one for the books.”

“We’ve been working on our offense a lot during practice and have been focusing on finishing plays and trying to give a little extra to put the ball in the net.”

After fighting harder than ever to keep Deerfield from scoring, the end of regulation came fast. Soon Exeter would have to play well in sudden death extra time if they wanted to shut the door in Deerfield’s face with a victory.

The first extra time came to an end. Following another period, the game concluded in a 0-0 tie, marking the second consecutive scoreless game in Big Red’s campaign.

While the team was unable to finish on the offensive side once again, the girls held their own on defense which was the leading factor that kept them in the game this past week. “Our defense did a great job on corners, which really helped shift the momentum in our favor. [Senior and captain] Courtney Peyko did an especially good job preventing their offense from getting shots off,” Grant said.

Although walking away from such an important game with a tie is far from ideal, the athletes look at the experience as a way to understand their faults and find ways to fix them. While disappointed, the girls are ready to work hard this week in practice in order to improve their offensive skills and learn how to finish and end this scoreless tie streak.

“We’ve been working on our offense a lot during practice and have been focusing on finishing plays and trying to give a little extra to put the ball in the net,” Grant said. This is a skill the team must master if they want to end this season with a winning record.

Big Red heads to Nobles this Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. showdown. The team hopes to put the ball in the back of the net in this game in order to grab a win.