Page 234 - WHS FH 2014

Both teams went back and forth, up and down the field through
most of the second half.
Lauralton continued to put the pressure on Wilton’s ‘ D’ with
no positive results. The Crusaders took their seventh, and final,
penalty corner with under 13 minutes remaining without getting
a shot off.

In the last 10 minutes the Warriors started to pick things up
with solid passing in Lauralton’s end of the field and Hynes
imploring her charges to unleash shots. Senior midfielder and
captain Delaney Baxendale sent the ball into the circle to fellow
senior captain and forward Meg Cunningham, who deflected
the shot at the goal with the rebound finding its way to Bridget
Ward at the left post. The sophomore forward had a slight
mishit but was able to bury her shot into the left corner for the
goal past keeper Mary- Beth Rudolph with 7: 08 on the clock.

“Once
we finished it, it made us feel so happy and we knew
we had to come together to win this game and it just
feels great,” Ward said. Wilton didn’t stop there
because the Warriors tacked on an insurance goal with
4: 55 left in the contest. Lauralton failed to clear the
ball out of its own end with junior Jillian Mahon
gathering up the ball and passing it up to Ward, who
located Katherine Campbell in front of the goal and
the junior hit a high shot into the back middle of the
cage.

Hynes said Campbell has done a good job in earning a
starting spot over the last few weeks and she also
praised Rappaport for stopping Lauralton’s offensive flow in the middle of the field.

The coach added that people always assume that
Wilton will always be good because of what it’s
done in the past, but this year’s group is different
with a mix of veteran and young players. “I’m
extremely proud of our girls for how far we’ve
come because this is an entirely different team
from last year’s squad,” said Hynes, who lost eight
key players to graduation going into the 2014
campaign. “It’s a whole new journey from August
and a new experience for these girls and I’m glad
they get to see that their hard work
pays off.