Girls' Field Hockey Falls To Nobles In Extra Time

The girls’ field hockey team played a tough home game against Noble and Greenough School, more commonly known as Nobles, this past weekend. Nobles was undefeated going into the game, so Exeter had their work cut out for them. After a stalemate in regular time, with both teams managing to score one goal, the game went into overtime. Unfortunately for the home team, Nobles was able to score the first goal in extra time and end the game.Big Red suffered a tough loss to Brewster earlier in the week, and they were hoping to bounce back and play hard against Nobles. The girls knew that they would need to play their best game of the season against such fierce competition, and that is exactly what they did.Sticking with the ferocious Nobles team was no easy task. Exeter’s opponents provided many threats from all over the field, but the team’s defense stepped up to the challenge. Lower Catherine Griffin noted that, “[Nobles was] good at keeping the ball on the offensive end. The game was very tiring because we spent most of the time playing defense.”Big Red’s defense worked well together and gave everything they had, making it very tough for Nobles to create opportunities. Lower Katie Young had another great game as goalie and blocked  all but one of the shots that were fired at her.Although the girls spent the majority of the game on defense, their offense also played extremely well. The team’s chemistry was crucial for them as they were able to string together good passes and take solid shots on net. Prep Emma Watson explained that, “On offense [they] were more aggressive than usual and played with a very team oriented goal: to nuke Nobles.” The girls peppered the Nobles goalie with shots on multiple possessions and they eventually found the back of the net.

“We made one little mistake. Two defenders went for the ball and they passed it to the open player who scored.”

At halftime, the girls were elated to be keeping up with Nobles and gritted through the second half of the game to force it into overtime. Usually, a game is played with 11 players on either side, but in overtime each team can only play with seven players. Also, the game is decided by a golden goal, which means that the first team to score will win the game.Coach Pacific said that overtime, “Gives a lot of time and a lot of space. They usually end pretty quickly and that’s what happened with us.” She later noted that, “We made one little mistake. Two defenders went for the ball and they passed it to the open player who scored.” Even though Exeter lost the game, they still have many things to be proud of.Big Red field hockey will look to continue their strong play this weekend. On Saturday the girls will travel to play NMH. Hopefully the team can pick up a big win this week and better  their record.