East Field Hockey Defeats Smithtown East, Improves to 5-0 in League

Smithtown East gave undefeated Sachem East a run for its money in a Division I field hockey game on Monday afternoon. 

Sachem East squeaked out a 4-3 victory, as it had to come from behind in a back-and-forth battle.  The win gives Sachem a 5-0 league record with a 6-0 record overall.

Just six minutes into the game, Jessica Caruana struck first for Sachem. The Arrows were on the attack and set up a scoring chance right in front of the net. There was a shot on goal, which was saved by the Smithtown East goalie, but Caruana was right there for the rebound and scored.

About 10 minutes into the game, Sachem East looked to have recovered from a corner kick and was granted possession as they looked to move up the field.  After taking the free hit, a Smithtown player stole the ball and passed it to Megan Rooney in the striking circle for the tying goal.

The Arrows answered back three minutes later as Jillian Donodeo charged down the field, eluding defenders on the way and passed to Kristen Bagley who was waiting on the left side of the net.  Bagley's shot ricocheted off of Smithtown's goalie and into the net.

"I just brought it all the way down in the middle of the field," said Donodeo.  "I cut through some players and Kristen was wide open in the corner."

Up 2-1, Sachem East looked to be in control as the team controlled possession and stayed on the attack for most of the first half.  However, with 13 minutes before halftime, Smithtown mounted an attack into Arrow's territory.  From the edge of the striking area in the corner of the field, Shannon Rooney took a long shot, which eluded the Arrow's goalie and went in for the score to tie the game at 2-2.

In the second half, it was Smithtown who struck first to take its first lead of the game.  Smithtown was awarded a penalty corner and as Arrows defenders scrambled to get into position, Megan Rooney dribbled the ball in front of the net and made a blistering shot past a diving goalie for her second goal of game.

Falling behind by a goal seemed to wake up the Arrows offense.  The Arrows began to control the ball more and went on the attack.  On an Sachem corner penalty, Melissa McKeveny made a pass into the striking area to an open Donodeo waiting by the corner of the net.  Donodeo tipped the pass for a one time shot into the back of the net to tie the game at 3.

"She shot it to the post and I was just there and took the shot," said Donodeo of her goal.

About a minute later, Katie Trombetta came through with what would be the final goal of the match as she took possession away from Smithtown defenders in the striking area and took the shot to give Sachem East their third lead of the game.

The Arrows played 15 minutes of tough defense for the remainder of the game to secure the win and stay undefeated.

"This is two games in a row with very teachable moments for us," said Sachem East head coach Tina Moon. "We're working on different strategies so that we don't always have to be coming from behind, but it was definitely a good effort by both teams."

Sachem East out shot Smithtown East 10-7, and accumulated 16 penalty corners, only one of which lead to a goal.

"It's going to be a rigorous schedule," said Moon.  "We're building on things we're working on this year and the girls don't want to be in the loss column."

Sachem East takes on Ward Melville at home on Wednesday at 4:15 p.m.