Newport
The win lifted the Cardinals to 6-1 in a season that has seen the Cardinals outscore the opposition 25-4. Only a 1-0 loss at Mascenic keeps them from a perfect record.
“We’re playing pretty good right now,” said Stevens coach Patty Deschaine, who has always been cautious about assessing her team.
Deschaine said she gave Morey, who has 13 goals this season, the green light after a couple of games in which she had her playing a more patterned game.
“I just told her to go out and score,” Deschaine said.
Said Newport coach Becky Merrow: “I know we should have paid more attention to her.”
Of Morey’s three goals, the third one was the slickest, as she picked up the ball on the sideline near midfield and went all the way. She was hardly bothered as she got in front of Newport keeper Katy Jurado and slipped the ball in.
“I only had to dodge one player,” she said.
Despite the defeat, Merrow didn’t consider the game a total loss as the two goals gave her something to smile about.
Before the game, she talked about her team’s lack of scoring (just two goals in the first six games) and how she wished she had a girl or two who could add some offensive punch.
“That’s what I had right there,” she said as she pointed to senior Krystin Kibbey, who was injured and keeping the scorebook.
Kibbey, now a senior who has attracted interest from a couple of colleges, had been a double digit scorer as a sophomore and a junior, but she injured her knee during the basketball season and is out for the season, although she will be able to play hoops this winter.
Stevens entered the game in fifth place in Division III and a top-four finish could get them an early-round bye in the D-III tournament.
Deschaine said she didn’t care where the Cardinals finished.
“I just want us to make the tournament,” the coach said. “I’m not sure the top four is a good thing, because we would have a long time between the end of the season and our first tournament game. I think I would rather be playing.”
It took the Cardinals a little while to get going, as Jurado kicked out three early attempts before Morey finished off a rush by sticking her own rebound under Jurado’s right pad. Before the half, it was 3-0 as Sophie Foote and Morey scored. Foote got a big help from Elyse Scott, who slid the ball across the front and Foote tapped it in.
Stevens made it 5-0 early in the second half as Morey finished off her big day with her third goal and Scotlyn Daignault, a freshman, joined the scoring parade.
Newport then showed some spunk with two goals. First it was Kennedy Pysz, who was in front of the goal when Kendall Hamilton’s shot hit the post and rolled back out, where Pysz snapped it in. Jenna Maheu had the second Newport tally, with the assist going to Lacy McNeel.
“That was nice to see,” Merrow said. “We kept at it even though we were way behind. We didn’t quit.”
The sixth Stevens goal came off the foot of Rebecca Moody.
Newport (1-6) is at Monadnock Monday, while Stevens is at John Stark that day.
Correction
Stevens High field hockey player Fallon Lavertue is shown battling a Newport player for the ball in a photograph accompanying this story. Her last name was incorrect in an earlier caption.