Anna Hartig
Staff Writer
The College of Wooster’s field hockey team played against tough competition this past weekend as they traveled to Richmond and Greencastle, Ind. The Fighting Scots took on two crucial conference competitions against the DePauw Tigers and the Earlham Quakers.
While the results were not in favor of the Scots, the team hopes to show off their skill set in the rest of the season. “We took two hard losses this weekend which is always a disappointment. However, we fought every minute of the game. Even the last two minutes when we’re down by two, we pressed hard against the other team, so I’m proud of that,” said Grace O’Leary ’20.
During Saturday morning’s game, the team faced Earlham College and maintained a strong defensive force. Goalkeeper Katie Shideler ’21 was impressive, stopping shots and dealing with the strategic corners. Along with Shideler, Katie Padavick ’19 made an impressive save on the defensive end. During the attack, Erica Womack ’19 nearly scored the equalizer in the first six minutes of the game. The team kept fighting as Sydney Schuster ’21 finished a rebound in the circle to tally her sixth goal of the season. Schuster’s goal was a result of her relentless effort as she ultimately scored on a dive, pushing past the goalie and the rest of the defense.
Overall, Wooster finished the game with a 13-10 advantage in shots and had a 9-2 lead in penalty corner opportunities. O’Leary described how the team changed their plan of attack for their opponents this past weekend. O’Leary said, “We tried a new corner strategy in an attempt to confuse their defensive corner unit. We knew that their fly would come out fast and hard so we thought we should switch it up.”
Against DePauw University on Sunday morning, the Fighting Scots continued to show their strong team atmosphere as Lauren Abbott ’18, Harriet Sudduth ’20 and Womack worked together to get a close call against the Tigers’ goalkeeper. Shideler ended the game with 14 saves highlighted by a penalty stroke save towards the 53rd minute. Not long after, Emma Roderick ’18 kept the score within reach with a defensive save in the 65th minute.
Shideler said, “I thought our team play improved as the weekend went on, and the more we played, the more intensity we had on the field. We never gave up in either of our games, and hopefully our intensity that we ended DePauw with will carry over into our next game.”
This intensity had been a priority of the team since the preseason. They have worked on elimination skills as well as better control over the ball, whether that is lifts or pulls. This hard work has resulted in a great deal of improvement throughout the season, and the team hopes to keep up this significant progress.
“We hope to come out hard against Kenyon this Thursday and Oberlin this Saturday to get the much needed win,” said O’Leary. The team is hoping to finish the season on a high note so make sure to show your support for the Fighting Scots as they play in their last couple home games of the season. At John P. Papp stadium, the field hockey team will host Kenyon College on Oct. 26 at 4:30 p.m. The following Saturday, the team will host Oberlin College on Oct. 28 at 11a.m.