Buchanan defends home turf from River Valley

By Tarin McMorrow,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–

The Davis High field hockey team opened play at home with a 3-1 win over the River Valley Falcons on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

River Valley started the game with a pass back, and just four and a half minutes in, scored the first goal of the game against Davis keeper and senior Danielle Mentink.

Senior captain Sarina Buchanan quickly evened the score four minutes later off an assist from senior Hannah Denton. A minute later, DHS recovered the ball in the middle and junior Cara Satre brought it up the field, sending it to junior Darby Maguire, who narrowly missed the goal in the 10th minute.

Seconds later, junior Nicole Pugh made a short pass received by junior Kailey Smith, which led to Buchanan’s second goal of the first half, assisted by Satre.

With five and a half minutes left in the first half, Buchanan scored her third goal of the game, off an assist by Maguire.

The second half was full of passes and hits, and although the Blue Devils had a few close shots, they didn’t score again, although Mentink made an important kick-out save with nine minutes left in the game.

A last minute call for “hacking” went against Davis in the last minute, but the Blue Devils did not appear nervous, and as predicted, the Falcon free hit missed.

Although DHS came out on a victory, head coach Sandie Marotti-Huckins was not impressed with the team’s performance.

“Sometimes you just come out flat and can’t put it together; this was one of those days. Just too bad it’s our home opener–we’ll work on it,” she said.

Still, there is plenty to look forward to in the upcoming season; coaches and players alike are motivated and ready to play.

“I’m hoping to break the scoring record [of 75 goals] that Emily Barber [set] a few years ago,” said Buchanan, who already has 14.

Buchanan reflected on the added stress of being captain and a team leader.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but I think it’s nice to be able to talk and have that respect and to get your team pumped up when you need to be pumped up,” she said.

Marotti-Huckins explained that the attitude of the players will eventually be what makes or breaks the team.

“[Success depends on] how hard we want to play, depends who shows up for us,” she said.