LISBON — The 2018 high school field hockey season started with a thud for the Lisbon Greyhounds.
Three one-sided losses had Lisbon coach Julie Petrie looking for answers.
She’s starting to find them.
Backed by a formation change, the Greyhounds won their third consecutive game, 3-0 over Mountain Valley Conference foe Hall-Dale on Friday.
“We were not moving, so we are doing something completely different and added more shape by moving people around,” Petrie said. “We weren’t scoring, but we are now, which is nice.”
Lisbon used its penalty corner opportunities to score two goals.
“We work on penalty corners a lot, and we have some hard hitters and work on touches, touches, touches,” Petrie said.
“They definitely looked stronger on their corners and something that we will have to work on moving forward,” Hall-Dale coach Angela Corbin said.
The game began with Lisbon attacking the Hall-Dale (0-6-0) defense. The pressure paid off as Sydney Plourde inserted a pass to Mallory Fairbanks on a penalty corner, and Fairbanks blasting a shot past Bulldogs netminder Mia Rollins for a 1-0 lead 4:56 into the contest.
“Mallory and I connect, but anyone on the circle can shoot it, which makes it hard to defend. We are very diverse on the penalty,” Plourde said.
Lisbon continued to press, with Hall-Dale countering behind the play of Carly Corbin and Sierra Godbout.
On a Lisbon counter, Plourde centered a pass to hard-charging Amelia Mooney for a two-goal lead with 9:44 left until halftime.
“I saw (Mooney) running, something that we emphasize on running to the goal, and she was right there to put it in,” Plourde said.
“Sydney knows she can never take a break and is all over the field, offensive and defensive, and has the ability to distribute,” Petrie added.
Hall-Dale found some offense late in the first half, but Lisbon goalkeeper Rebecca Budesheim made three saves to keep the Bulldogs off the board.
“It was really a back-and-forth game,” Corbin said. “I hate to sound like a broken record, but we have one senior and seven freshmen, with a few in-between, so we’re still a little green in some areas. Finishing is one of them that we’re struggling with. When it comes to finishing, we are not there 100 percent yet.”
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