Kenyon field hockey retained their number-one spot in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) with a pair of decisive road wins over the weekend.
The Ladies (6-1) dispatched conference opponent Wittenberg University (0-7) in a 5-1 victory on Saturday and triumphed over Washington and Jefferson College (Washington, Pa.) 3-0 on Sunday, extending the Ladies’ win streak to four games.
Katelyn Hutchinson ’18 recorded her first two goals of the season in the Wittenberg game, both coming before the 10-minute mark. Hutchinson credited Minke Verweij ’19 for assisting on the scores, saying, “She set up both of those goals and I was there for the final touch.”
The Tigers responded with a goal from first year Blaine Donnelly in the 14th minute, but it was the only one Kenyon goalkeeper Sarah Speroff ’18 would give up in the game.
Shannon Hart ’18 added two goals in the second half and Maddie Breschi ’16 contributed one, carrying the Ladies to a 5-1 win.
Head Coach Jacque DeMarco said the team spent the previous week working on finishing, or goal-scoring. “We had some nice goals because of that,” DeMarco said.
Breschi agreed, saying, “It’s nice to see that it translated from practice to games.”
Hutchinson and Breschi, together with Weezie Foster ’18, anchored the offense against the Washington and Jefferson Presidents (4-3) on Sunday.
Foster scored first, placing a shot in the back of the net after driving through the Presidents’ circle. Despite a mid-game change in the Presidents’ defensive formation, Breschi and Hutchinson added a goal apiece in the second half, both off of rebounds. Meanwhile, Speroff and the rest of the Ladies’ defense held their opponents scoreless, resulting in a 3-0 Ladies win.
Following last weekend, Breschi stands two points short of Kenyon’s career points record of 109, and one goal short of its career goals record of 44. Breschi called breaking the records “a really exciting prospect,” and attributed her success to “working with a hard-working team.”
DeMarco said Breschi, a four-year starter, contributes a lot on both offense and defense and “really drives the team forward.”
That said, the Ladies’ starting corps is almost entirely underclassmen, save for Breschi. “We have a young team, but we’re doing pretty well,” Breschi said. Hutchinson said she thinks the team could advance even further than it did last year, where they lost in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament.
The Ladies’ next contests are at home this weekend. They’ll face two fellow NCAC teams: Earlham College (3-2) at 11 a.m. on Saturday and perennial powerhouse DePauw University (4-2) at noon on Sunday.
Hutchinson said she expected the DePauw game to be the team’s biggest challenge yet.