Slaters end slump with 2-1 victory

With 3:21 to play in the second half and Springfield leading 1-0, the Fair Haven field hockey season got a new look to it when Tarah Hubbard lifted a shot over Springfield keeper Erin Chlebek’s head and tied the score.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20111011/SPORTS/710119911

Published October 11, 2011 in the Rutland Herald
Slaters end slump with 2-1 victory

By POODY WALSH
correspondent

SPRINGFIELD — Tosh Stickney has a coach-imposed sanction that her field hockey team will not take part in the state tournament unless they win three regular season games.

That sanction seemed frivolous after Fair Haven opened the season with two wins. Then five games later the Slaters were still at two wins. Not only were there no more wins, there were no more goals. They hadn’t scored a goal since Sept. 10.

All that changed finally for the Slaters on Monday at Springfield with a 2-1 overtime victory, but for a long time it looked like it was going to be another one of the games that Fait Haven plays well all over the field, but nothing hit’s the back of the box.

Then with 3:21 to play in the second half and Springfield leading 1-0, the Fair Haven season got a new look to it when Tarah Hubbard lifted a shot over Springfield keeper Erin Chlebek’s head and tied the score. It was like the weight of the world had been lifted off the Slaters shoulders.

“I have confidence in my team,” said Stickney, “but yes it was there in the back of my mind that this could be another frustrating game. But you know the girls meant business today.”

And they took care of business in the overtime when a several player rush was culminated with Char Metcalf tucking the ball between Chelbak’s pad and the short-side post.

As exhilarating as the win was for Fair Haven it was a devastating loss for Springfield.

“This hurts real bad,” said Springfield coach Bindy Hathorn. “We let it get away.”

The loss left Springfield at 4-7-1 while Fair Haven moves back to the win column at 3-5.

The 10-minute, sudden-death, overtime with seven-on-seven and the numbers on the field. It was the six-on-six situation that opened the field for the winning Slater goal as they found a seam in the Springfield defense and surrounded Chlebak. The ball seemed to stay around Chlebak’s feet for a long time although it was probably only a few seconds. She had two stops, maybe more, but the last stop squirted off to her right from where Metcalf drove it home, less than three minutes into the overtime.

While the loss was frustrating for Springfield, a defeat for the Slaters would have been hard to take. After a so-so first half Fair Haven had a 9-1 edge in shots and 6-2 in corners in the second half. Then Hubbard lifted the ball like a lob shot on the tennis court and it went over the keeper’s head. The season changed for Fair Haven right there.

Stickney thinks what happened on Monday, may be a confidence builder for the Slaters game with Windsor on Wednesday.

“I think this was a big boost,” she said.

While Fair Haven had the big edge in play in the second half, Springfield was the more dominant team in the first half, leaving opportunities to score on the doorstep time and again. The Cosmos did hit the back of the net before the half was over with Jill Rushton feeding Morgan Johnson who one-timed it by Beth Alger in the Fair Haven goal.

Windsor is also Springfield’s next foe in a home game on Friday.