'The actual corner didn’t play how it was supposed to,' Hershey's Meg McDonald on scoring the game-winner against Lower Dauphin field hockey
The day before Lower Dauphin traveled to Hershey to play in one of the best high school field hockey backyard rivalries in the United States, Hershey was goofing off at practice.
“They make me nervous,” Hershey head coach Savanna Lenker said walking off the pitch Wednesday after the Trojans squeezed out a 3-2 win with no time remaining on the clock in regulation. “I’m more of a focused, pay attention to the details person, but the girls were just having fun.”
Maybe that’s all it took to shake off the nerves in the Mid-State’s high school version of a Carolina vs. Duke, Red Sox vs. Yankees, or Penn State vs. Ohio State atmosphere.
“Our main thing going into this game was to have fun,” Hershey captain Anne Gardner said. “Everyone was nervous, but we didn’t know if we were going to win or lose this game. Our goal was to have fun but put everything into it.”
Gardner had one goal and one assist. Her assist helped to lift the Trojans to victory. The final corner play was part of the team’s “trying new things” approach.
“Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to score,” Gardner said about her goal.
Gardner scored in the fourth, after Avery Weaber scored the first goal of the game in the second quarter. That was off another corner, where the ball cracked the top of the backboard.
Gardner’s goal was a paced ball far enough away from her body that she nearly laid out to make a reverse hit.
“I was just trying to shoot it,” Gardner said. “Obviously, I’m really tall, so I was just like, I was just trying to do my signature move. That’s where I’m used to playing most of the time. I thought I’d just smack it. It was almost like a dive.”
Lower Dauphin's Katelyn Strawser was having a hard time also ripping off her reverse. She chipped one into the net to even things 1-1 in the third. The Falcons scored again in the fourth when Falcon Lily Rost found a gap between the Trojans kickers.
When it came down to brass tacks, several Hershey players were adjusting to new positions and had warmed up.
Lower Dauphin's skilled roster had also adapted to Hershey's tactics. And, when the final corner was called for Hershey with no time remaining, it wasn’t one the team had ever used before.
“I’ve never shot on a corner before,” Gardner said. “So, that was a corner we’ve never done. And, I was supposed to just shoot it. But, I fumbled the ball a little bit. I thought I messed up and then Megan hit it in. I never shoot.”
The game-winning goal was senior Meg McDonald’s first of the season.
“How I feel right now is just incredible,” McDonald said. “The chemistry we have on this team is one-of-a-kind and to score it, especially with Anne, she’s one of my best friends. And, it just kind of felt like a textbook goal. How it worked out was perfect. The actual corner didn’t play how it was supposed to. It was supposed to go to someone else. And, right when I saw [Anne] start to go off what our normal corner was, I was like, ‘oh God, this isn’t gonna be good.’ But, then the ball just went right over to me. It was awesome. There was a little tiny pocket that I slipped it through.”
Hershey’s squad is a much smaller, tighter-knit group this year, Lenker said. The Trojans graduated a lot of seniors last year. Four freshmen have joined the team.
“I think this is the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of,” Lenker said. “LD forces any team they play to put their best foot forward, or they’ll shove it in the goal and game over. You need that extra drive to get to those 50-50 balls. You’ve got to outstep them.”
And, while that may sound like a lot of foot chases, there were actually more clogged lanes. Hershey packed the sidelines with two to three midfielders and defenders.
There was nowhere to go but back or up and over with lifts or pops. Lower Dauphin gained advantage when they used their flat ball. Hershey was better at executing its through ball.
“I know they work so well together to connect in these moments,” Lenker said. “Fun games and high-level field hockey all around. You got my back, and I’ve got yours, they have that mentality. I give a lot of credit to my assistant coaches to put me out of my comfort zone saying ‘I think this might work. We know this will work; you’ve got to trust us.’ We’ve never done that corner. Credit to my assistant coach.”
Lenker said the game was “ultimately a defensive battle.”
“Those goals have to get it done, but everybody was playing defense,” she said. “Ya gotta step harder to the ball than them and ya gotta get your teammates on these plays. Playing to our strengths. We don’t have a deep bench. We don’t have a lot of kids. Put the ball in goal scoring opportunities.”
Lower Dauphin left the field disappointed but not down.
“We always know going into a game with Hershey that it’s not a game of skill or speed,” Falcons head coach Erin Catalfano said. “It’s a game of heart and pride. We had to dig deep in the fourth quarter.”
She said she thought the Falcons struggled with the Trojans “packing everybody in the circle.”
“It made it very difficult for us to be able to take the typical shots that we usually take,” she said. “Being this early in the season, losses are never fun. But you can learn so much from a loss. It’s the same game. I felt very confident that if it went into overtime, it was going to be our game. As far as I’m concerned, as far as the girls, we will use this. They will learn more losing than if we had won.”
Lower Dauphin and Hershey are nationally ranked high school field hockey teams that play in the Mid-Penn Conference Keystone Division. The game was Lower Dauphin’s first loss of the season. The teams will meet again in just over two weeks at Lower Dauphin.