Haddon Township advances in field hockey
Sometimes the only way to erase a bad memory is to create a good one. With that in mind yesterday, Ashley Landgraf scored a pair of goals to lead the Haddon Township field hockey team to a 2-1 victory over host Haddon Heights in round one of the Central Jersey Group 1 state tournament.
Sometimes the only way to erase a bad memory is to create a good one.
With that in mind yesterday, Ashley Landgraf scored a pair of goals to lead the Haddon Township field hockey team to a 2-1 victory over host Haddon Heights in round one of the Central Jersey Group 1 state tournament.
The ninth-seeded Hawks (10-10-1) will play on Monday at New Egypt, the top seed.
"We lost to [Haddon Heights], 1-0, the first time, and it shouldn't have happened," said Landgraf, referring to an earlier game.
"This is definitely a big rivalry. That first goal made me want to win even more."
The senior midfielder's first goal at 5 minutes, 30 seconds into the second half tied the score, 1-1. Landgraf received a corner pass in the striking circle and whacked the ball past keeper Megan Sheil.
Significantly, it was the third successive corner for the Hawks, and the number three was a charm for them again with 3:31 left.
Once again, Landgraf was the beneficiary of a third corner, this time by Ashley Super, and ripped a shot that found the back of the cage for a 2-1 lead that held.
"On those corners, we were relentless," Landgraf said. "We wanted to keep it down there."
Haddon Heights jumped out to a 1-0 lead when midfielder Adrienne DiSipio scored two minutes into the game.
On Oct. 8, DiSipio scored the winning goal against the Hawks in a regular-season Colonial Conference game, and things were looking good this time around, too.
"After the goal, we had the momentum. But when the other team gets a goal, you have to keep going, and it didn't happen," said the senior, who finished the season with a team-high 15 goals.
"This is really disappointing. We had seven seniors on varsity, and this was our first playoff game."
The Garnets (9-7-4) played without their best midfielder, Alexa Farina, who was sidelined with an injury. However, sophomore Amanda Eckert stepped in to help.
Heights coach Melissa Del Collo urged her players to recover on attack and help out with finishing shots.
Haddon Township led the Garnets by 16-6 in corners as a result of its pressure on the ball in the circle.
Haddon Township 0 2 - 2
Haddon Heights 1 0 - 1
Goals: HTAshley Landgraf (2). HHAdrienne DiSipio.
Saves: HTAlexa McCann 12. HHMegan Sheil 10.