Green Terror Field Hockey fell 2-1 to Shenandoah late Wednesday afternoon at their Gill Stadium home opener.
Sophomore Emily Houska netted the lone goal for McDaniel (0-2) with under five minutes to play, tying the game with the assist from Megan Quattrone, the duo’s second connection in as many games.
“You know, it’s kind of weird, they didn’t really look like themselves,” said Terror Head Coach Melissa Jones. “They were a completely different team from the Friday night game. The Stevenson team is extremely talented and if we had brought just a little bit of what we brought Friday night, it probably would have looked — I’m not saying we would have pulled out a win — but I’m saying we would have looked a bit more competitive today.”
“When the girls turn it up, they turn it up,” she concluded.
The Hornets (3-0) took the lead on a Megan Stevens goal with just under ten minutes to play in the first half, her third of the season.
Shenandoah would attempt 12 shots before a Melissa DeiTos goal from the top of the circle put the Hornets ahead for good with 52 seconds remaining.
McDaniel tallied just four shots, all on goal, to the Hornets’ 13.
Green Terror goalie Paige Ford came up with six saves. Jenna Rampale saved three on the Shenandoah line.
The hosts were awarded ten penalty corners to the visitors’ two.
“I do have a lot of faith in them,” said Jones. “I thought they picked it up in the second half. As I’m looking at the game as a whole, I don’t think we quite looked like McDaniel Hockey today. There wasn’t a lot of passing patterns, we weren’t stepping.”
Looking at their coming schedule, Jones believes that her teach will compete for the middle of the conference, as they do most years. “I knew that this current 2017 season was going to be a lot of teaching, a lot of developing,” Jones said of her underclassmen-heavy team. “In terms of outlook for the season with the tough schedule we have, I do think that most games are going to be a fight like this. There’s going to be a lot of 50-50 games.”
The Green Terror play next at Roanoke (3-0) on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. and at Bridgewater (0-3) on Sunday at 2 p.m. They return home to face Susquehanna (1-1) at 4:30 p.m. on the 13th.
