NEWPORT — The Newport High School field hockey team took to its new digs nicely on Thursday with a 9-0 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas.
Maddox Lovely scored the first-ever goal at Veterans Field by lofting a shot past Saints goalie Kinsley Harris 9:44 into the contest, paving the way for Newport’s romp over the Saints (0-2).
Taylor Fellows closed out the first half with a breakaway goal for Newport (1-0), which enjoyed the move to the upgraded playing surface.
“It’s dedicated to all the veterans from Newport,” said Tigers athletic director, Jeff Miller, following Thursday’s season opener. “(It) was done with part of a grant that the school got with a bunch of COVID money and also from the Newport Lions Club. There was a gentlemen in town, Peter Lovely, who passed away, and his son, PJ, is the rec director, and he wanted his money to go to something, and so some of the money has gone to this field.”
Thursday marked just the second time the Tigers were able to play on their new turf — which was rolled out rather than seeded — due to its infancy.
“It’s a brand new field and with all the rain, the roots haven’t quite taken hold,” Miller said. “So we’re letting them practice the day before games and then we played today. It’s a little spongy, but it’s because the roots aren’t real deep.”
The Tigers still hold practices on the baseball field at Meadow Park, the former location for their home games.
“We’ve been practicing down at our old field, but we only have like half a field lined,” said Newport coach Kaitlynn Porter. “So practicing for the first time on an actual full field was nice. And getting to play on it today was awesome and the girls are really excited to have a new field.”
Thursday’s victory marked Porter’s first as the Tigers’ head coach after three years as an assistant under Steve Christensen.
“It was definitely different because now I’m telling the girls mainly what to do, which was definitely nerve-racking at first, but when things got going, it was really exciting,” said Porter, a Newport High alumna and current teacher at the school. “(The players) did so well, so that they made it super-easy. … I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I was going to be.”
Newport settled in even further in the second half, unleashing a potent offense against Aquinas. Fellows led the charge with three goals and an assist. The Tigers got two goals apiece from Lovely, Eden Ritondo and Peyton Blackinton, who also contributed an assist, as did Katie Sharron.
Freshman goalie Natasha Carpenter made two saves for the Tigers.
Porter, who complimented her predecessor, Christensen, for providing valuable background knowledge and helping her prepare to take over the varsity reins, seemed impressed with her team’s debut.
“We have about nine or 10 freshmen,” Porter said of her squad, which features just two seniors and three juniors. “We are a very young team, so they played very well for being a young team.”
Aquinas, which got eight saves from Harris, struggled to move the ball through the grass on Thursday. The Saints, who play their home games on artificial turf, are still looking for their first goal of the season following shutout losses to Newfound and Newport.
Notes: The Tigers led the Saints, 15-3, in corners, finally scoring on their 13th attempt with Blackinton finishing in front. … Two injured Tigers helped out at the scorer’s table on Thursday. Freshmen, Nevaeh Caron (right ankle) and Kylie Janicke (right leg), both hope to suit up again this fall. … Newport returns to action Sept. 13 at Mascenic.