Arlington Field Hockey Falls to Concord-Carlisle

The Arlington field hockey team invaded Doug White Memorial Field in search of its first win of the season Monday afternoon. Unfortunately for the Spy Ponders, they  left Doug White Memorial Field still looking as the host Patriots of Concord-Carlisle earned a 4-1 victory.

With the win the Patriots improve their record to 2-1 while Arlington falls to 0-3.

"I thought we played well early on. I was happy with the way we played in the first half," said Arlington coach Colleen Flynn. "We came out and scored that tying goal but when Concord-Carlisle scored that second goal it really took its toll. I think this was a closer game than what the scoreboard indicates."

Despite the final score, this one was a tight contest for a majority of the 60 minutes. With the game deadlocked at one more than midway through the second half the hosts struck for three tallies inside the final 15 minutes to seal the win. Arlington goal keeper Carolyn Woodin played well in defeat, turning away 12 of the 16 shots she faced. At the other end of the field Patriots net minder Monica Diercks made six saves to preserve the triumph.

Arlington's Caitlin Guiney was the offensive standout for the Patriots, finishing with a hat trick and an assist for a four-point afternoon.

"One of the things we've been working on is having our players come to the ball. It took the team a little while to get things going today but finally in the second half things began to flow," said Concord-Carlisle coach Betsy Smith. "One thing I told the girls is they have come with the same intensity the first 10 minutes of the game as they did in the last 10 minutes."

Concord-Carlisle struck for the lone goal of the first half a little under nine minutes in when Christina Erne put one past Woodin from seven yards out to make it 1-0 with 21:04 to play. Guiney was credited with the helper. 

The Patriots made several attempts to increase their lead over the final five plus minutes of the first stanza but Woodin did everything short of stand on her head to keep the net clean heading into the break. Woodin got defensive help from teammates Emily Nugent, Lauren Poirier and Nicole English as the teams entered halftime at 1-0.

In the second half Arlington increased the offensive pressure, looking to break through and put the equalizer past Diercks and the Patriots defense.

The hard work finally paid off for the Spy Ponders when sophomore forward Eva Colarusso  recorded her first career varsity goal with an unassisted tally at 18:27 to make it 1-1.

That was how things stayed until Concord-Carlisle reclaimed the lead; this time for good, with 11:33 left thanks to Guiney's first of the game to make it 2-1. Sarah Bagley was credited with the assist.

The Patriots would add two more goals, both by Guiney, inside the final 10 minutes at 5:35 and 0:31 respectively to cap the scoring.

Concord Carlisle finished the contest with a 10-7 advantage in penalty corners.