Green Wave Sinks Bears Field Hockey 1-0

By Paul Silverfarb psilverfarb@bcnnew.com

The Norwalk High School field hockey team had its chances against a solid New Milford squad Monday night at Sam Testa Field, but it was the Green Wave that scored a goal early in the second half and held on for the 1-0 victory.

For the second consecutive game, the Bears got painfully close to scoring a goal. Against Stamford's Westhill High School in the season-opener, Norwalk missed the net by mere inches, forcing a 0-0 tie heading into overtime. In the extra session, Westhill scored to take the victory.

"We've got to break the seal," said Norwalk head coach Kyle Seaburg following Monday's game. "We had an overtime loss and the loss tonight. We need to get the ball in the net. I think once that happens, a lot of that little nervousness in the goal area will disappear. You can see it. We were scoring in preseason, and we'll get there; however, we need to execute in the circle and that will come."

Seaburg believes that the experience his team has gained by playing such talented teams this early in the season will help his team break through and score. On Monday Norwalk went out of conference to battle a fellow Class L school in the Southwest Conference. The Green Wave was seeded No. 2 in last year's Class L tournament.

"We scheduled this game because they are a quality program and that's what I want to play," said Seaburg. "I was talking to the girls after the game and told them that you play better teams and you get better because of them. Our goal is long-term here. Mew Milford has a great program and is a great team."

For Green Wave head coach Dawn Hough, seeing what other Class L teams "bring to the table" is what helps her squad stay so competitive.

"It's good for us because they are Class L also, so we get to expose ourselves to other teams," Hough said. "We know how other teams play and what their style is in the SWC. We feel like we know what they are going to do. We want to get an idea of what other teams in the state are going to do. Kyle really coaches well and made a ton of adjustments tonight, and it was really good to see my players adjust to those adjustments."

After both teams played the early portion of the contest in the neutral zone, New Milford went on the attack and almost found the net. With 20 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in the half, both Michelle Pearl and Sarah DaRos had shots at scoring, but the Norwalk defense was there to keep the ball out of harm's way.

About three minutes later, New Milford's Krystyna Stratman took a shot on net off a corner opportunity, but Norwalk's Allie LeBlanc was there to deflect it. Once again the Norwalk defense was put to the test. On the ensuing corner shot, Norwalk's Sarah Laverty was there to steal the ball and push it upfield.

Norwalk had its chance to get on the scoreboard later in the half. With 7:29 to go, LeBlanc got possession of the ball off a corner and fired at the net, but the ball sailed wide. A little over a minute later, Kim Merritt gained control of the ball on a breakaway, but the shot was just as wide.

Throughout the later portion of the first half, Norwalk was able to gain control of the ball and use its solid passing game to its advantage, something that New Milford was hoping to do as well.

"We have to pass smarter and play smarter, and we did that in the second half," said Hough.

With 27:59 to play, New Milford's Elizabeth Herdter and Megan Monteiro each had point-blank shots at the net, but Norwalk's Kim Stow was there to make the kick save and the diving stop. Stow finished the game with four saves.

Although Stow was solid in net, the Green Wave finally was able to score with 27:28 to play in the game.

While on the attack, New Milford's DaRos carried the ball along the end line and passed to Monteiro, who made a pull past the defender and dished the ball across to Pearl, who found the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.

"In the first half I felt like we didn't play as smart as we could have.," said Hough. "Luckily we pulled it together, made much smarter passes early in the second half, and that's how we scored. We also dominated play. We were also lucky that Norwalk waited until the last 12 minutes to really put some passing combinations together. They are a good team."

Norwalk finished with four shots on goal, while the Green Wave netted five. Norwalk had a 7-6 advantage in corners.