BRANDYWINE HUNDRED — The first three and a half quarters of Archmere’s season-opening field hockey game at Concord on Sept. 9 followed a familiar pattern. The Auks generally refused to give up possession, worked the ball down low and came up with offensive opportunities, only to come away with nothing on the scoreboard.
Finally, exactly halfway through the 15-minute fourth quarter, the Auks found some daylight. One on of an endless stream of penalty corners, Bella Dell-Oso inbounded the ball toward the top of the scoring circle. Rebecca Olsen took a short pass and sent a shot toward Raiders keeper Irelyn Yoder. Emma Gioffre was there and pounced on the loose ball, knocking it into the corner of the cage for the 1-0 lead.
It took less than three minutes for the Auks to double their lead. Again, it came on a penalty corner. The initial shot from up top was deflected by a Concord defender, then knocked toward the keeper’s right by Lindsey Renshaw. Carly Polsky, one of two freshmen on the roster, calmly redirected the shot into the cage with 4:45 to go.
Olsen closed the scoring with no time left on the clock. On Archmere’s final penalty corner, which occurred with seconds left, Olsen sent a shot from the top of the circle waist-high into the goal.
The Raiders’ two goalkeepers – Sarah McDowell played the first half – kept Concord in the game most of the way. They came up with big saves throughout the afternoon, including one where McDowell knocked a shot wide close to halftime, and a blocker save by Yoder just before Gioffre’s goal.
Archmere outshot the Raiders, 19-0, and had 16 penalty corners to zero for Concord. The Auks (1-0) travel to Sanford on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Concord (0-1) is at Christiana on Wednesday for a 3:45 p.m. start.
All photos by Mike Lang.
