BY KEVIN FRIEDENBERG

In print | October 5, 2006

The Garnet Field Hockey team (8-3, 3-1 Centennial Conference) faced off on Tuesday night against Johns Hopkins (6-5 overall, 2-1 CC), who came into the game ranked 19th in the country. Swarthmore opened strong with Abigail Fischer ’08 netting her eighth goal of the season, deflecting a Summer Spicer ’07 shot past Blue Jays goalie Dayna Eng only two minutes into the game.

However, Johns Hopkins refused to quit, keeping up the offensive pressure for most of the first half. Persistence paid off for the Blue Jays with Adair Landy sneaking in a goal off a pass from Katie Wong. Fortunately for the Garnet, Spicer came up big, blasting a shot from 25 yards out with 1:44 remaining in the half.

At the start of the second half it was clear that the Blue Jays wanted to win this conference matchup badly, attacking the Swarthmore net early and often. Eventually the constant pressure was too much for the Garnet, who yielded the equalizing goal with 25 minutes remaining in regulation on a shot by Hopkins forward Emily Miller. The rest of the game Swarthmore fought just to hold on, beating back the constant assault from the Blue Jays offense and taking the game to overtime.

Overtime started on an exciting note with Swarthmore goalkeeper Karen Lorang ‘07, Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week, making a sprawling save in a heart-stopping one-on-one situation. Seeing her opportunity after the Garnet cleared the ball, Spicer ripped a shot past Eng with just under three minutes remaining in the first overtime to seal the deal for the Garnet. "I told them at halftime that heart and hustle trump everything. The seniors weren’t going home without a win," head coach Kelly Wilcox said.

When the team squared off against the Dickinson Red Devils (4-4, 1-2 CC) on Saturday at Clothier Field, it was clear who would be coming home with the victory. With just a minute and a half gone by in the first half Julia Morrison ’07 tucked the ball past Red Devil goaltender Amanda West through a crowd to put the Garnet up early. Though this goal would be the only one of the match, the score did not indicate the lopsided nature of the game. When the Red Devils dared to venture across midfield they were met with stiff resistance from the Garnet defense consisting of Anna Baeth ’09, Julie Monaghan ’07 and Saranne Perman ’07.

Throughout the entire game it was obvious that the fitness level of the Swarthmore team was far superior to that of Dickinson. “Our passing game has really developed this season and we’re hoping that we can use that to our advantage to outpace other teams,” midfielder Ashley Gunter ’09 said.

On several occasions the Dickinson midfield was overtaken from behind while chasing a loose ball down the turf. Energy stayed high even at the end of the game, which was a testament to the long runs that the team had endured during the week of practice instead of just sprint workouts. Also, during the week of practice, less emphasis was placed on corners, which had been satisfactory in the previous weeks, allowing more time for practice on offense and three-on-two situations.

The second half spelled nothing but doom for the Red Devils, who couldn’t muster up enough momentum to mount a serious counterattack against the Garnet. On the rare occasion that Dickinson could even come within shooting range, Garnet goalkeeper Lorang denied their chances.

With just over 23 minutes left in the second half it appeared as though the floodgates would be opened with a flurry of chances for the Garnet, all of which came tantalizingly close to sealing the fate of the Red Devils. Yet as time expired Dickinson came knocking at the door after being awarded a corner with negative time on the clock. Though the Red Devils tried valiantly to even the score, the ball was cleared by the Swarthmore defense to end the game, bringing out a euphoric celebration from the Garnet faithful and sideline.

As far as the grueling stretch of in-conference matches that the Garnet has until the end of the regular season is concerned, the Garnet is not worried. “We have some real strong momentum going for us,” Baeth said.

“We sent a message to the conference. It starts here,” Wilcox said.

The team’s next game is at Washington College (0-8, 0-3 CC) on Oct. 7 at 1 p.m.

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