AUBURN — St. Dominic Academy had a lot of opportunities and capitalized on just enough to earn a 3-1 field hockey win over Traip Academy on Friday.
The Saints had 14 penalty corners in the first half, and six more in the second half. But they weren’t able to turn any of those penalty-corner opportunities into goals.
“We are still working on finding the net,” St. Dom’s coach Abigail Bowie said. “We are doing different stuff in the circle.”
Traip coach Cecilia Gagner was pleased with the Rangers’ defense on the Saints’ penalty corners.
“(They) had a lot of penalty corners, and they did not score,” Gagner said. “We have a very strong defensive line, and they are freshmen, and our goalie (Charlotte Masse) is a sophomore.”
St. Dom’s Ava Apodaca’s first-quarter goal, set up by Bryanna Archer and Lorelei Bonnet, was the only score of the first half for either team.
Masse made five first-half saves to keep Traip (0-6-1) within a goal of St. Dom’s.
Abbie Mitchell put St. Dom’s up 2-0 in the third quarter with goal set up by Julianne Cook. Shortly after Mitchell’s goal, Emily Andrews scored to stretch the Saints’ lead to 3-0.
Traip’s offense finally got going in the fourth quarter, recording its first shot on goal early in the quarter. Then, on its fourth shot, Abby Piche, standing by the post, got the ball put it past Saints goalie Pilar Hewey (two saves).
“My girls are coming off a night game last night — we had our homecoming game — so they were a little bit tired (at) the beginning (of the game),” Gagner said. “They woke up at the end when they needed to. We did get that awesome goal. They are always in (the game).”
Masse finished with six saves.
Though undefeated, the Saints (7-0) still have things to work on and fix, especially on defense, Bowie said.
“We are trying to play all of our defenders (on the offensive side of the field),” she said. “It presents kind of an issue when we (have to defend a breakaway), which happened a couple of times. It did end (well) for Traip, which is awesome for them. But it’s still getting back and getting the breakout play a little quicker.”
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