Chopticon High School junior Abby Dolinar looks to get past La Plata defender Emma French in Friday’s Southern Maryland Athletic Conference crossover contest. Dolinar scored the Braves’ first goal and Emily Thompson added another to lead Chopticon to a 2-0 victory.
Chopticon High School junior Abby Dolinar proudly heads toward midfield with the ball in her left hand after she scored the first goal of Friday's Southern Maryland Athletic Conference crossover game at La Plata. The Braves added another goal later for a 2-0 victory over the Warriors.
Chopticon High School field hockey player Abigail Bouch gets past La Plata defender Makayla Kent and heads for the goal in Friday's Southern Maryland Athletic Conference crossover game. The Braves scored twice in the second half to forge a 2-0 victory.
Chopticon High School junior Abby Dolinar looks to get past La Plata defender Emma French in Friday’s Southern Maryland Athletic Conference crossover contest. Dolinar scored the Braves’ first goal and Emily Thompson added another to lead Chopticon to a 2-0 victory.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Chopticon High School junior Abby Dolinar proudly heads toward midfield with the ball in her left hand after she scored the first goal of Friday's Southern Maryland Athletic Conference crossover game at La Plata. The Braves added another goal later for a 2-0 victory over the Warriors.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Chopticon High School field hockey player Abigail Bouch gets past La Plata defender Makayla Kent and heads for the goal in Friday's Southern Maryland Athletic Conference crossover game. The Braves scored twice in the second half to forge a 2-0 victory.
Throughout much of Friday's Southern Maryland Athletic Conference crossover contest, the Chopticon High School field hockey team dominated play at La Plata. But it wasn't until the midway point of the second half until the Braves ended the scoreless deadlock and finally emerged with a 2-0 victory over the Warriors.
Chopticon (2-1 overall) spent much of the first half applying pressure to the La Plata defense and forced Warriors goalie Kelly Resendes to remain busy deflecting away shots and barking out signals to her defenders. La Plata's defense bent but refused to break in the first half, but in the second half the Braves' intense pressure finally overwhelmed the youthful Warriors.
"What I liked the most about the way we played today was the sense that we're finally coming together as a team," Chopticon head coach Anne Vallandingham said. "This group has really been getting better every game. Today we had some good scoring chances in the first half, but we couldn't score. But in the second half they kept attacking and got a couple of goals."
Chopticon continued to apply steady pressure to the La Plata defense at the outset of the second half and finally with just less than 20 minutes remaining it was junior Abby Dolinar who broke the scoreless deadlock. Resendes had kicked aside two shots during the sequence, including one from Abigail Bouch. But amid the ensuing scrum it was Dolinar who wristed a shot past Resendes.
"In the second half, coach wanted us to play with more urgency," said Dolinar, who also plays lacrosse for the school in the spring. "We had some good chances in the first half. Then in the second half we just kept passing and shooting and we finally scored. It was great to score, but I could not have done it without my teammates."
Sensing her team needed a boost, La Plata coach Pomie Radcliff called a timeout with just less than eight minutes remaining. The Warriors had been on the defensive throughout the game and Resendes had remained busy, while her counterpart, Blair Vallandingham, failed to face a single shot. But the last eight minutes proved similar to the first 52 minutes.
Chopticon hardly seemed content with its 1-0 lead and maintained a steady pressure on the La Plata defense. Following a pair of penalty corners that resulted in missed chances for the Warriors to clear the ball from the zone, junior Emily Thompson gathered in a loose ball deep in the circle and drilled a low shot past Resendes for a 2-0 advantage with just less than two minutes remaining.
"At halftime we talked about staying aggressive and making good passes," said Thompson, still brandishing the heavy brace on her right knee years after having ACL surgery. "We definitely came out and played our game in the second half. When Abby [Dolinar] got that first goal it just took a lot of pressure off."
La Plata (0-3) failed to generate much offense on Friday and the Warriors failed to take a single shot on goal, but players such as Madison Meiser, Molli Barnett, Emma French, Makayla Kent and Caitlin Cox displayed various stick skills and their efforts impressed Radcliff despite the final score.
"We certainly opened with three tough opponents," Radcliff said. "Today we played against a very good Chopticon team. I thought Kelly made some really tough saves. Their attack was very good the whole game, but our girls kept fighting. I think the way they played today showed a lot of promise."
The Warriors are scheduled to be at Northern at 4 p.m. today, while the Braves are slated to be at Westlake at 4 p.m. Thursday.
