Friday, Oct. 14, the Elizabethtown College women’s field hockey team played their first Homecoming game on the resurfaced turf at Wolf Field. With the spirit of Homecoming Weekend, the Blue Jays started the weekend off well with a 4-0 victory over Albright College.
“The atmosphere was great! We had a lot of fans out, families, friends and Etown College field hockey alumni so that was great hearing lots of noise coming off our stands. It was a lot of fun to play at Homecoming because we knew that so many things were going on and so many people were excited for our game. It only heightened our own excitement,” senior co-captain Kelly Clayton said.
Despite the pressure of Homecoming Weekend, the Jays brought their record to 9-3, with a 3-1 conference record. The game was a great team effort and helped the Jays continue their climb to the top of the Commonwealth Conference.
“Our team not only plays great together but enjoys playing and being together, which is something to be celebrated, I think,” Clayton said. “Winning a game like this was great because it was a conference game, so that is important. And it let us work on our passing game and improve while not having to worry too much about them scoring on us.”
First-year Kendra Hudson, who had two goals in the last game against Delaware Valley College, scored another two Friday afternoon. Her first goal was unassisted and her next goal was off of a rebound. She has eight goals thus far in the season. Joining Hudson in the scoring column was junior Nadine Yunginger who scored her sixth goal of the season.
Senior Samantha Redles contributed to the victory with a strong pass from first-year Kathleen Minerva late in the first half.
The Jays were focused on maintaining their advantage over Albright College. “To hold on to our lead as a team we kept up our energy and worked together and supported each other to stay on the attack,” senior Caitlin Grimes said.
Clayton added, “Although we were winning by three goals, we still acted like we were down by one and just wanted to score more goals and keep having fun!”
Along with the focus and teamwork, the defense also played a big part in the success by only allowing two shots on goal the whole game, leading to junior goalkeeper Lindy Hamp’s first shutout of the season.
The program’s current overall record is 9-4, with a Commonwealth Conference record of 3-2. The Etown Blue Jay’s women’s field hockey team poses a large threat to other teams in their division.
