Springside hockey tops Tigers

by TOM UTESCHER

The Springside Lions were on the offensive for most of the first half of last Friday’s field hockey match, but junior goalie Nora Tickell kept the cage sealed for host Germantown Friends until the period ended with the score still 0-0. The visitors kept at it after the interlude and finally they breached the GFS bulwark, coming away with a 3-0 victory.

Although the host Tigers came close to breaking up the shutout in the late minutes, in the end they saw their record fall to 0-4, while Springside improved to 3-0-1 in the young 2004 season.

Both teams graduated their starting goalies from a year ago, and in fact for Lions sophomore Sara Heinze, who’d been sidelined by illness earlier, it was the first varsity start ever. She came up with nine saves for the visitors, all in the second half, while Germantown’s Tickell made 17 stops while under a lot of pressure.

The Tigers graduated five other starters from last year’s Friends School League champion squad, while Springside lost four field players from its 2003 club, which tied for sixth in the Girls Inter-Ac.

Despite numerous advances into the GFS circle in the opening half of Friday’s tilt, Springside was no better off than when it started at the intermission. The eventual gamewinner, which came with 8:21 elapsed in the second period, developed out of a free hit by the Lions from well out on the left wing. A pride of Lions then swarmed into the circle, and a touch by Sofia Zmurkewycz got the ball to the stick of Delia Langan, who shot the ball out of a clump of players into the cage.

Just three minutes later Springside had an insurance point on the board as Zmurkewycz deposited a goal of her own. Germantown then came up the field and had Abby Childs belt a hard shot just wide to the right of the Lions’ cage. On the second of back-to-back Tiger corners, Sarah Feldman and Carolyn Tilney whacked away at the ball just a few feet in front of the left post, but somehow Springside’s Heinze kept it out of the goal.

Later on, Springside made a rush into the GFS circle on the left, and the Tigers’ Tickell missed the ball when she attempted to kick it clear. Springsider Sarah Wadsworth swept in behind the keeper and scored to put the final count on the board with 7:42 remaining. GFS regrouped and earned several corner hits in the closing minutes, but Heinze held onto her shutout.