Davis High field hockey keeps record perfect
By Brigitte McFarland,
HUB staff writer–
Eight varsity teams faced off this weekend in the postseason Eastern Athletic League field hockey tournament at DHS on Oct. 27. The Blue Devils maintained their perfect record as they finished up their fall with this last two days of play. Davis walked onto the field ranked first in its league, with a 13-0 record
On Friday Oct. 26, DHS had defeated Corning, Pleasant Valley and River Valley, and had earned themselves a spot in a Saturday game against Yuba City. Late Saturday morning, music pumped, sticks clicked, and the Blue Devils warmed up to face the Yuba City Honkers.
The game was a one-sided victory for Davis High. The ball stayed on the Honkers’ defensive side half, for the majority of the game, only crossing the 50-yard line 10 times, and then just barely. The Blue Devil defense was a wall, fortified by juniors Elizabeth Leshuk, Emmanuelle Cordier, and Kelly Ragsdale. Leshuk, Cordier, and Ragsdale stopped and cleared countless balls from their territory.
10 minutes in, senior Emily Barber made Davis’ first successful shot and gave the Devils an early lead.
Shortly after, senior Malia Fujisawa followed the action and moved from defense to offense. Soon after her move, Fujisawa slipped in the second goal for her team.
During the second half, Honkers defense strengthened considerably and presented more of an obstacle to the Blue Devils’ frequent shots.
Former JV players Rachel Foley and Andi Jackson worked with senior Kayla Robinson to edge the ball downfield late in the game. Foley received an assist from Robinson and slid the ball through a crowd of frantic fullbacks for the seventh goal.
Coach Sandie Marotti-Huckins was glad to utilize all members of her team. Earlier this week, she pulled seven JV girls up to play in the varsity tournament. Marotti-Huckins was thrilled to see that the sophomore and freshman girls could “hold their own” against varsity players. “JV plays the same system,” Marotti-Huckins said, “So when they combined with varsity, we were all on the same page.”
Additional goals from Robinson and fellow seniors Ariana Enzerink and Kylie Drexel and a goal from junior Sara Pinto totaled to a 8-0 win and shot DHS into the semifinals, where they faced Pleasant Valley.
Before the DHS-Pleasant Valley semifinal match-up, however, Corning and Chico fought for a spot in the final. This semifinal game was a close one. The second half had almost concluded with a 1-0 Corning win when Chico snuck in a goal with about six minutes left.
The buzzer rang on a 1-1 tie, and the two teams moved in to penalty strokes to determine who would push on to the finals. Corning topped Chico by one goal and secured their finalist status.
Junior Sara Pinto didn’t expect to see a Chico loss, “They’re sort of our rivals, so that [final] should be an interesting game,” Pinto said on Friday night before this tournament’s twist.
After watching the defeat of their rival, the Blue Devils took the field to triumph over Pleasant Valley for the second time that weekend with two goals in the first half from Robinson and Pinto, and second half goals from Drexel and junior Natalie Silver, resulting in a final score of 4-0.
