By By Justin Paley
Over the last few years, the Pride field hockey team has played well in out of conference competition. But once the Pride got into the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) portion of its schedule, it faltered. Last year, the team started 0-3 in the CAA before rebounding to win three of its final four conference games and make the conference tournament.
This season, the Pride again played well early in the season, starting the year 6-2 before playing a conference game. But instead of wilting in the CAA, the Pride has stayed strong. That trend continued as the Blue & Gold improved to 3-1 in the conference with a 2-1 overtime victory at Towson University on Sunday.
Head coach Kathy DeAngelis said the Pride did not play its best game, but had no doubt her team would win.
“In overtime, we were fortunate to get it done early and felt so confident in overtime,” she said.
Junior Kara McEneaney set up the game winner in overtime, passing the ball to sophomore Pemba Ramdoo on the left side. Ramdoo was able to find freshman Charlia Warner open in the circle and Warner put the ball past Tigers goaltender Christina Armer with 10:40 left in overtime. It was Warner’s fifth goal of the season. DeAngelis noted that her team showed great execution on the winning goal.
With the Pride leading 1-0 in the second half, the Tigers’ Kelli Richards scored unassisted from the left side with 22:35 left.
The Pride took a 1-0 lead with 7:14 left in the first half when junior Doni-Melissa Jantzen found McEneaney in front of the cage.
“It’s exciting to see midfielders connect,” DeAngelis said. “We’ve been striving for the midfield to attack more. We really rely on them to produce in midfield.”
While the Pride out shot Towson, 14-9, not many were quality shots. “We put ourselves in a dangerous position in attack,” DeAngelis said. “Our shots were not on goal. When opportunities in the attack were there, the execution was not there. Games happen like that.”
Towson did have plenty of opportunities, with 13 penalty corners to the Pride’s six. The Tigers were unable to take advantage, though, as Pride junior goalie Jessica Cowperthwait made four saves.
“We’ve been working on corner defense,” DeAngelis said. “It’s been one of our focuses in practice. It’s what we have to work on.”
While the Pride is 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the CAA, its three conference victories have come against teams that are a combined 1-13 in the CAA this year.