Varsity Field Hockey: Middletown Finds Positives In 2-0 Defeat

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

 

It’s an old cliché in sports that in times of struggle or when it seems like a team is doing bad that the team in question will, “try to find the positives,” which some view as a way to rationalize the quality of the team or downplay the struggles.

Those who would be considering placing this approach on the Middletown High School Knights Varsity Field Hockey team would be sorely mistaken as not only have the Knights played at a high level of field hockey but also have been in every one of the games that they have played.

More importantly the Knights have had a shot at winning each of those games and have been very much in the middle of the action with the Knights playing an offensive game, making chances for themselves and proving why that down the road they will be a serious contender that teams will have to keep their eyes on.

So, even though the Knights fell to the Manchester Valley High School Mavericks on Tuesday September 13^th by a 2-0 score, the Knights had moments where they hung with the Mavericks punch for punch.

Middletown would start off the match with the better scoring opportunity as with ten minutes having elapsed in the first half junior midfielder Tess Queen would find a seem in the Manchester Valley defense and hit a gorgeous stretch pass to junior forward Ashley Donaldson who received the pass and had a point blank opportunity on net but would have it denied on an excellent save by the Mavericks goaltender.

Middletown would scratch together a few more chances and would have a few more penalty corners in the first half but for the most part the hockey played in the first half was played in the midfield as both defenses stood out in the first half.

The Mavericks would have a few opportunities in the first half but they were snuffed out relatively easy for the Knights by senior goaltender Madeline Hillsman who was more than up to the task, smothering the Mavericks attack and covering up the few rebounds that she would allow.

This stretch of defensive play would continue up until with halftime with the Knights and Mavericks heading into the break tied at zeros.

On the other side of the break it would be the Mavericks who would jump out ahead and then add another goal for insurance to get to a 2-0 Mavericks’ lead which is what the score would stay at until the game was over.

As mentioned at the top of the article, it wouldn’t be a stretch of the truth to indicate that where lots of positives when it comes to the Knights and how they played against the Manchester Valley.

The play of Hillsman was sublime throughout the day and has been that way throughout the season as she has been what every goaltender hopes to be; solid when she needs to be.

The play of Queen has also been good as she has been the link connecting the back line of the Knights to the forwards helping to spur the Middletown offense.

Middletown will look to carry those positives over into the Frederick County part of their schedule as they same type of play against the teams from inside the Central Maryland Conference will yield better results for the Knights and put them in the thick of a conference title race.