Eagles Field Hockey Dominates, Drops Glen Burnie 2-0

By Colin A.J. Murphy

The Northeast field hockey team turned in a dominant start-to-finish performance against visiting Glen Burnie on September 15, defeating the Gophers 2-0 to improve to 1-1 on the young season. Fifth-year Head Coach Gina Ward was encouraged by the victory and what she sees as her team’s burgeoning attack-first identity.

“We’re excited to get the first win of the season,” said Ward after the contest. “I think we’re still gelling as a group and trying to focus on shooting and becoming a more offensively-minded team.”

The offensively-minded effort certainly showed against Glen Burnie, as the Eagles maintained possession deep in their opponent’s half of the field for almost the entire game and relentlessly showered the Gopher goalie with shots. Early in the first half, Stacy Titus assisted on a goal by Jaime Hutchinson, putting the Eagles out in front 1-0. Northeast’s overpowering front line of Titus, Hutchinson, Julianna Hall, Courtney Woolford, Allison Grimm, Celia Engel and McKayla Walter continued to put shots on goal and give the Glen Burnie defense an exhausting workout throughout the remainder of the half.

Northeast’s complete control over the first half highlights the ongoing improvement of the Eagles’ field hockey program, which Ward has been actively involved in since 1998.

“We’ve improved immensely,” said Ward of leaps and bounds her program has made over the years. Ward and assistant coach Christy Harris played together on Northeast’s first team in 1998. That team was coached by Ward’s mother, Arlene Reuss, who now serves as one of Ward’s assistants. “Our first year we had girls who had never seen a field hockey stick. Now, we’re getting more and more competitive with all the schools in the county, and that has a lot to do with the Bucs’ program and how they’ve really coached girls well. But our expectations are higher now.”

It was clear the Eagles expected the ‘W’ against Glen Burnie, and they kept pushing the issue in the second half. Outstanding goalkeeping from the Glen Burnie side kept the game close in theory, but in reality the afternoon belonged wholly to Northeast, and the Eagles continued to pound the ball deep into their attacking third of the field for nearly the entire second half. Midway through the period, Titus took advantage of a mad scramble for the ball in front of the goal, poking it underneath the Glen Burnie goalie for the Eagles’ second score. From there, Northeast continued to forge ahead until the final whistle, with Hall, Woolford, and Grimm manufacturing repeated scoring opportunities.

“I think we played well,” said Hall, a senior and one of the team’s captains. “We’re all really good friends and we get along really well.” Asked about the big-picture outlook for the season, Hall was confident her team will continue to improve as the season progresses. “I think we’re going to be good this year, and [our goal] is to make it as far as we can in the playoffs.”