La Plata High School sophomore field hockey player Caroline Earnshaw rockets a shot between two Westlake defenders and toward the goal in the first half of Monday’s game. Earnshaw scored six goals on the afternoon as the Warriors cruised to a 16-0 victory over the visiting Wolverines.
La Plata High School forward Lucy Mudd drills a shot between the pads of Westlake goalie Nadiya Bennett for one of her two goals on the day. Mudd and the Warriors upended the visiting Wolverines 16-0 on Monday in their 2A South Region playoff opener.
Westlake High School field hockey player Gabriella Alcantara, left, and La Plata’s Devin Bragunier battle for a loose ball in the second half of Monday’s 2A South Region playoff contest. Bragunier scored two goals to help the Warriors upend the visiting Wolverines 16-0 on Monday.
La Plata High School sophomore Caroline Earnshaw heads toward midfield with the ball in her left hand after scoring one of her six goals on Monday afternoon when the host Warriors upended visiting Westlake 16-0 in their 2A South Region playoff contest.
La Plata High School sophomore field hockey player Caroline Earnshaw rockets a shot between two Westlake defenders and toward the goal in the first half of Monday’s game. Earnshaw scored six goals on the afternoon as the Warriors cruised to a 16-0 victory over the visiting Wolverines.
Staff photo by Ted Black
La Plata High School forward Lucy Mudd drills a shot between the pads of Westlake goalie Nadiya Bennett for one of her two goals on the day. Mudd and the Warriors upended the visiting Wolverines 16-0 on Monday in their 2A South Region playoff opener.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Westlake High School field hockey player Gabriella Alcantara, left, and La Plata’s Devin Bragunier battle for a loose ball in the second half of Monday’s 2A South Region playoff contest. Bragunier scored two goals to help the Warriors upend the visiting Wolverines 16-0 on Monday.
Staff photos by Ted Black
La Plata High School sophomore Caroline Earnshaw heads toward midfield with the ball in her left hand after scoring one of her six goals on Monday afternoon when the host Warriors upended visiting Westlake 16-0 in their 2A South Region playoff contest.
On an overcast afternoon somewhat befitting of Halloween, the La Plata High School field hockey team upended visiting Westlake 16-0 on Monday in a 2A South Region playoff opener as the Wolverines were unable to exorcise the demons of playing decidedly shorthanded.
La Plata scored eight goals in the first period and led 10-0 at the intermission as the Warriors benefited from fielding a full squad while the Wolverines dressed a grand total of eight players for the contest. La Plata sophomore Caroline Earnshaw led the way with six goals as teammates Devin Bragunier, Lucy Mudd and Makenna Zupelous added two goals each.
“The key today was making good passes and taking good shots,” said Earnshaw, a soft-spoken sophomore whose team earned a trip to face Huntingtown on Wednesday afternoon. “We played really well together as a team. We’re going to have to continue to do that in our next game. [Huntingtown] beat us 4-1 when we played them the last time.”
Huntingtown field hockey defeated La Plata 2-0 on Wednesday evening.
Westlake, which spent Monday’s entire game three players down, may have fallen behind early and never mounted much of an attack — the Wolverines did not record a shot on goal — but the Westlake players displayed ample courage throughout the contest. La Plata’s early goal enabled the Warriors to sub frequently and several reserves got into the scoring act.
Earnshaw, Bragunier and Mudd established the tone early as the Warriors vaulted to an 8-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended the advantage to 10-0 at the break. In the second half, Ella Moody, Ella Leginze, Jolee Lombardi and Sophia Toye each tallied one goal apiece while Earnshaw and several starters watched from the bench.
“We played with a lot of energy today,” said Earnshaw, who planned to go trick-or-treating after the game with her younger sibling while perhaps still donning her Warriors’ game jersey. “We have to do the same thing on Wednesday against La Plata.”
La Plata attackers kept Westlake goalie Nadiya Bennett busy throughout the game and the Wolverines’ netminder recorded nearly 10 saves to keep the score somewhat respectable under the circumstances.
“She was not afraid to get down to the ground and make some tough saves,” La Plata field hockey coach Pomi Radcliff said of her opposing goalie. “She was really determined to stop some of those shots. Hats off to her for playing that hard the whole game.”
