Four minutes. That’s as long as the Covenant field hockey team had to wait to jump out in front of Albemarle. A pair of quick starts to both halves and dominant performance defensively paved the way for the Eagles as they managed pick up an impressive 3-1 win at home.
“In previous games we hadn’t looked very good on corners and those looked a lot better today,” said Covenant coach Annie Gumbs. “I think the offense got better, the girls are still learning to take a chance when they get an opportunity and put (shots) away. The big thing for our offense was getting it out of the center, moving it wide to just move the ball around more.”
The Eagles took the lead early when Wynston Archer made it 1-0 off a shot just four minutes into the game. From their, Covenant dominated possession and watched it’s defense play aggressive and hold the Patriots just one first half short corner. With 18:57 left in the first, the Eagles raced out to a 2-0 lead with Liz Llera scoring off a pass from Abby McCartney.
“We’ve been conditioning really hard and playing with extreme intensity is our goal and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Llera said. “(In the early) part of the season we’ve been having a hard time finishing — we’ll dominate a whole half but we don’t score. Today was a really nice change where we were able to put in some goals really quick. That’s a really big improvement for us.”
Up comfortably at the break, Covenant took a commanding 3-0 lead just a little over a minute into the second half. This team the Eagles found the back of the cage on a short corner with Madison Fagan connecting on a deep shot. Covenant won the corner battle, netting 10 chances to Albemarle’s four.
While the Eagles outshot the Patriots 14-2, Albemarle’s offense was able to finally get things rolling late in the second half. With six minutes and change to play, Morgan Stilley finished on a broken play at the front of the cage to cut it to 3-1.
“We told the girls at the half that we were working hard, but needed to do so as a team,” said Albemarle coach Katie Robinson. “There was no doubt in my mind that we could (mount a comeback). We weren’t leaving this field without a goal.”
Behind their ball possession and strong defense though, Covenant wouldn’t allow the Patriots to get any closer and they wrapped up the win without allowing another shot.
“Our back line, they play so well together and they are extremely disciplined,” Gumbs said. “To be honest, I don’t have to coach them too much. They play aggressive and hold really tight to their players and just do a really good job.”
The Eagles have a break before they host Carlisle on September 22nd. The Patriots host Powhatan on Thursday.
