Home Local Sports Ursuline field hockey falls, 3-0, as Riley Stephan scores hat trick for...

Ursuline field hockey falls, 3-0, as Riley Stephan scores hat trick for Wilmington Charter

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Ursuline played its final game of the regular season on Nov. 23 against Wilmington Charter. Dialog photo/Mike Lang

WILMINGTON — Senior Riley Stephan scored all three goals for Wilmington Charter as the Force defeated Ursuline, 3-0, in field hockey on Nov. 21.

On a chilly, blustery day at Serviam Field, the Force came out with all of the offensive pressure, but they were unable to get anything on Raiders goalkeeper Samantha Hurd. That changed with just under five minutes to go in the first, when Charter’s Hannah Clatworthy intercepted a pass at midfield. The play resulted in a restart for the Force, and Stephan got her team on the board first by beating Hurd to the short side at the 4:16 mark.

That was the extent of the scoring in the first. Ursuline blocked a Force shot in the final minute after Charter earned its first penalty corner.

Not much changed in the second quarter, although the Raiders did get the ball into the scoring circle in front of Force goalkeeper Autumn Shahan a few minutes in, but they were unable to register a shot. Charter’s best chance came with about seven minutes to go before the half, but a shot rolled wide right.

It didn’t take long for the Force to double their lead after play resumed in the second half. After a restart, the ball ended up in front of Hurd, who was able to make one save before the rebound was poked in by Stephan with 12:55 on the clock.

Hurd was kept busy throughout the third. Charter piled up the penalty corners, and they managed several shots from them and other offensive forays, but the keeper rejected all of them. The Raiders managed a shot of their own with about two minutes remaining in the quarter, but Margaret Macauley was stopped by Shahan.

Stephan got her hat trick with just 43 seconds remaining with temperatures dropping and the sun a recent memory.

Charter outshot the Raiders, 28-2. The Force (6-4) are home Wednesday at 3 p.m. against Delaware Military Academy before closing out the regular season on Saturday when Archmere visits at 3.

For the Raiders, Hurd had 10 saves. Ursuline wrapped up its regular season at 5-6 and will find out this weekend whether that is enough to get them into the 12-team Division II state tournament.

All photos by Mike Lang.