WINTHROP — Homecoming may be the most exciting day on the fall sports schedule, but it also presents its share of hazards for the home team.

Unbeaten Winthrop found that out the hard way when undefeated Spruce Mountain crashed homecoming with three goals in the first half on its way to a 3-1 win in a key Mountain Valley Conference field hockey clash Friday.

Nicole Hamblin scored 4:08 into the game, then LaDesta Tracy and Kayla Meserve added goals in the final 2:35 of the first half to give the Phoenix an insurmountable lead.

“The teamwork, we’ve just gotten so much better than the beginning of the season,” said Tracy, who is one of 10 seniors on the Phoenix roster. “After the first goal, it’s just pumping us up more and we have to keep doing it.”

Winthrop tested Spruce Mountain goalie Kasey Richards (10 saves) thanks to six first-half penalty corners, but couldn’t maintain consistent pressure for most of the first half.

“We had a lot of hoopla going into today and I think the girls, with it being homecoming, I really think it taxes them,” Winthrop coach Jessica Merrill said. “I think at the beginning of the game, we came out really flat and they definitely took advantage of us being flat.”

Spruce Mountain (6-0-1) exploited Winthrop’s lapses with quick hits and outstanding team speed. That’s what created the 2-on-1 where Hamblin fed Tracy for Spruce Mountain’s second goal with 2:35 remaining in the half.

“(Hamblin) had an amazing dribble and she distracted the goalie and sent it across. I just powered it right in,” Tracy said.

Another Winthrop (5-1) lapse led to a turnover just outside the circle. Meserve converted the steal into a 3-0 lead with 1:22 remaining in the half.

Winthrop had few opportunities to seize the momentum early in the second half, thanks to some excellent defensive work by the Phoenix.

“It was a good comfort knowing it was 3-0, but our girls know it’s Winthrop and it’s their homecoming, so we knew that we had to come out in the second half,” Spruce Mountain co-coach Julia Parker said. “Today, Katelyn Gervais and Liz Chretien really stepped up on defense and Kasey had some great saves in that goal cage.”

Richards’ best was a diving stop on a Cat Ouellette shot that was deflected in front of the cage midway through the second half.

But that sequence, plus a Ouellette shot from the top of the circle that went just wide, seemed to give the Ramblers a boost.

“We switched the lineup midway through the second half,” Merrill said. “I think that kind of energized the girls a little bit. We went more offensively and I think the girls realized that passing the ball was going to be to their benefit.”

Rachel Ingram’s pass to Ouellette standing three feet inside the circle led to the Ramblers’ only goal with 10:23 to go.

Ingram had another good chance with a rush down the left side, forcing Richards to leave the cage and make a sprawling kick save, leaving the cage open. But the Phoenix defense tied up the rebound long enough to prevent any quality second chances and keep the Ramblers at a safe distance.

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