Strong Offense Leads to Dominant Field Hockey Victory

A lot of offense will lead to a lot of goals, and that was no different with the Weedsport Varsity Field Hockey team as they defeated the Cortland Tigers 7-0 on Friday night. Right from the opening seconds, a strong offensive presence was apparent. This eventually led to three goals within 2:10 of each other. Jeslyn Files scored with 15:25 left, Libby Nemec scored with 13:24 left, and Ashley Wightman scored with 13:15 left.

“The girls have been working on their scoring, and Cortland, to be honest, is not as strong as they’ve been in years past,” said head coach Theresa Leonardi. “So, that combination made a big difference.”

Cortland did come alive a little bit after the third goal, but their efforts were to no avail; and according to Leonardi, she’s glad Cortland didn’t have another shot at goaltender Nicole Soutar.

“That was a heck of a shot, I said to the girl after, ‘I’m glad you didn’t have any more of those,’ because she really fired off a shot,” said Leonardi. “Obviously defensively we aren’t thrilled when they get a clear shot like that, but Soutar was right there where she belonged, and was able to throw it away.”

However, the offensive-burst did not last long. Files scored her second goal with 5:12 left, to boost the lead to 4-0. At the point, it was clear Weedsport was going to take this one.

“[Scoring two goals on senior night] felt amazing, I wouldn’t be able to do it without the team,” said Files. “It just felt great.”

Nemec scored her second of the game, right before the half ended, with two seconds left. Weedsport went into halftime 5-0.

With a lack of a halftime due to a late start, just a few moments later, the teams went back on the field to start the second half. It seemed like déjà vu, as the Warriors came out in a strong offensive fashion right from the get-go.

A few short minutes in, Aubrey Ouderkirk put her own name on the scoring sheet, and raised the total to 6-0. For a while, passing was a little down, but they were able to come away with their final goal of the night from Tiana Kraydatus with 24:09 left, putting 7-0 on the scoreboard.

With their final regular season game out of the way, the girls went 11-4-1 on the season, and look to enter sectionals soon. They hope to be the No. 1 seed going into sectionals, which they find out on Sunday.

“Now we have a little bit of celebration,” said Files. “And we have to prepare, because now it’s one game and done [if we lose]. So we have to prepare like we would any other opponent.”

According to Leonardi, the girls still have a little bit to work on before they enter the sectional tournament, but they should be successful.

“Overall we do want to work on our scoring and our communication,” said Leonardi. “A lot will depend on when and where.”