Lady Cougars Field Hockey Falls in Season Opener

Junior Hillary Joseph probably took Wednesday's loss the hardest for the Cranford field hockey team.

The Lady Cougars right winger had a couple of opportunities against Governor Livingston, but could not finish off as Cranford dropped a 1-0 loss in the 2009 opener.

The best shot at scoring for the Lady Cougars came with seven minutes gone in the second half when Joseph had a breakaway toward Highlanders goal keeper Cassie Kinney, but Kinney slapped away her shot.

"I thought she had the goal," said Cranford head coach Meghan Snyder. "She needed to lift the ball."

This is Synder's first season as head coach.

Snyder said that Joseph is their "cherry picker," and sophomore center midfielder Maria Guarisco showed off some great ball handling during the game.

Overall, Cranford dominated the chances, especially in the second half, but could not get a goal.

The Lady Cougars had another good opportunity with four minutes remaining in the game when right inner Amy Negrin smacked a shot that Highlander keeper Kinney kicked aside.

Cranford continued to put the pressure on in the final minutes, but again could not get that series of passes that would have resulted in the equalizer.

The Lady Cougars had 10 shots on goal with many coming from Joseph, while Governor Livingston only had four shots on goal with the only one that mattered coming in the first half.

The only goal occurred seven minutes into the game when Highlander Megan Traub fed teammate Alyssa Pech who put it past Cranford goal keeper Sara Carolan.

"This is a hard one to stomach," said Snyder who added that the team might have had a touch of nerves for the first game. "We had a couple of first game jitters."

While it was the first game for Cranford, this was the third game for Governor Livingston who had defeated Piscataway and Westfield before the Wednesday game.

That might have been the reason for the slow start and the early goal for the Highlanders.

"I think they thought this was the older GL team," said Snyder about the Highlanders, who had a poor team in 2008. "I told them that this was not like the old GL team. I think they understood it after they scored the goal."

Despite not scoring, Snyder was excited about the team's tenacity to continue to attack.

"I am happy they did not give up and kept pressing," said Snyder.

The Cranford field hockey team will get another shot at Governor Livingston on Oct. 13 at Memorial Field.

Cranford 2009 Field Hockey schedule
(Games at 4 p.m. unless noted. Home games at Memorial Field unless noted)

Sept. 17 at Ranney School
Sept. 21 North Plainfield, Orange Avenue School
Sept. 23 at Kent Place
Sept. 25 at Union
Sept. 30 at Johnson, 7 p.m.
Oct. 2 Summit, 5:30 p.m.
Oct. 5 Westfield, 5:30 p.m.
Oct. 7 at Oak Knoll
Oct. 10 at UCIAC Tournament, TBA
Oct. 13 Governor Livingston
Oct. 16 Kent Place
Oct. 17 at UCIAC Tournament, Johnson, TBA
Oct. 19 Union
Oct. 21 Johnson, 7:15 p.m.
Oct. 23 at Summit
Oct. 24 UCIAC Tournament at Johnson, TBA
Oct. 26 at Westfield
Oct. 27 Oak Knoll
Oct. 29 at River Dell