Jackson Volenec — Reporter
Southern’s field hockey team lost 0-6 to Assumption College on Saturday, at Jess Dow Field, despite goalie Brianna Craft’s 29 saves, marking a new career high.
The Owls, who have struggled to find any positive momentum this season, faced the Assumption Greyhounds, who at the time ranked tenth nationally, for their seventh loss of the season.
During the first half of the game, a majority of possessions were spent on the Owl’s side of the field. The Greyhounds’ offense was oppressive and fast paced the entire game, giving the Owls few opportunities to make an offensive play themselves.
“Knowing that this team was very fast and very strong in a lot of areas on the field, for us, it was about trying to get better vision,” said head coach Kelley Frassinelli. “We knew that it was going to be a crowded game for us, which is something we need to work on.”
Although the Owls were down 0-4 going into the third quarter, but the momentum that Assumption had seemed to be beginning to die down towards the halfway point. However, Assumption scored two more goals against Southern, leaving it at 0-6 when starting the fourth quarter.
“I think the score says different compared to how we actually played. I think we had some really strong defensive strategies out of this game,” said co-captain and goalkeeper Brianna Craft, a senior.
Since the Greyhounds are a high-ranking team across the nation, as well as in the NE10, the Owls knew they had to prepare.
“We’ve been practicing for Assumption; we know they play numbers up from us, but we focused on being on the most
offensive players,” Craft said. “I think we played to the best of our ability.”
Frassinelli said in order for the team to be more successful in the future, the Owls need to improve their offense as well as their defense. Which was made part of their game plan going into the last quarter.
“For us, in that game, all we wanted to do was prevent them from scoring in that last quarter,” said Frassinelli. “That was something that we really had to buckle down for and say ‘Okay, this is what our strategy is going to be’, and we were able to make that work.”
Despite the loss to an NE10 opponent, Craft achieved a career-high of 29 saves this game, breaking her previous home game record of 23. There were more than 40 shots total taken towards the Owls’ goal throughout the game.
“Goalies don’t normally see that many shots, so I was really tired. My defense really helped me out,” said Craft.
By the fourth quarter, SCSU had significantly improved their defense, as they had not allowed Assumption to get any goals during the final quarter. Even though the Greyhounds had still been on the Owls’ side of the field for the majority of the game, Southern’s team was able to keep a solid defense.
“I think we need to figure out how to tighten the ropes earlier in the game,” said Craft, “and to offensively play harder and move the ball up the field, get a couple shots on cage. That’s what we need.”
The Owls’ next field hockey game will be against University of New Haven on Oct. 2 at Jess Dow Field.
