Patriots Break Free of Warriors 15-11

The Patriots (3-1) defeated the Wayland Warriors (3-1) 15-11 Tuesday at Doug White Field.

The Patriots having just come off a frustrating loss at Wellesley, fell behind early in the game on  two fast break scores by Wayland before getting on track to take a 3-2 lead. Turnovers hurt the Patriots throughout  the first half as they fumbled away multiple scoring opportunities with dropped balls, errant passes  and missed shots on goal. Still the Patriots managed to keep a one goal lead  while the Warriors fought back to keep the game close. Patriot Goalie Greta White had a huge first half with seven saves, only allowing four to make the back of the net.

At the half Concord Carlisle held on to a 6-4 lead.

“We have yet to come out and play a full fifty minute game this season," said Coach Morrison. "The first five minutes of each game have been a challenge for the team. The stabilizing factor to get us through those rough beginnings has been Greta White in goal, with the support of our primary defenders. I also want to credit Assistant Head Coach Joan Dalton who has been working with the defense, and has instilled an 'I got you back mentality' on the backline.”

The second half began with the Patriots quickly going on the offensive.  Attack Jill Carlton (6 goals, 2 assists, 2 forced turnovers), Midfielder Emma Brandhorst (4 goals, 3 draw controls, 2 assists) and  Center Jessie Castelline (5 ground balls, 5 draw controls, 3 caused turnovers, 2 goals, 1 assist)  continually pressured the ball against Wayland while defensively Jenny Robinson , Marin Epstein  & Caroline Guild, made huge contributions to help stop a challenging Wayland offense.

With 12 minutes remaining the Patriots finally broke free with a 4 goal scoring run making the game 12-8.  Ill timed turnovers continued to plague CC, however, as a scrappy Wayland team fought back to stay within earshot.

The final few minutes found the Patriots leading  15-9, but Wayland added 2 final tallys within the last 120 seconds of play to close out the game with a CC win 15- 11.

“When our transition from defense to offense was clicking we were able to score goals," said Coach Morrison. "We had six players that had goals, assists, or both. When we have that many people involved on attack we put ourselves in a great position to win games. Jill Carlton is definitely in a scoring groove, and Emma Brandhorst used her speed to create rushes that resulted in goals. Unfortunately there were too many times when we played inconsistent today. There are not a lot of games where you can turn the ball over twenty times and come out on top. That tells me we have a lot of work to do.” 

The Patriots hold a 3-1 record in Division 1 play and 2-0 record in DCL play. They face league opponent Bedford (2-1) this Thursday at 4:00 in Bedford.