This past weekend, four field hockey teams from across the Northeast, including Geneseo, met on the Vassar College campus in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. for the annual Betty Richie tournament. Joining the Knights were the Marywood Pacers, the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks and hosts Vassar Brewers.
Opening their play this season and in the tournament, Geneseo first took on Marywood on Friday Aug. 30. The Knight’s first test of the year would be a good one, as the Pacers are coming off a 12-8 season in 2018. Facing a team with a winning record from the previous season allowed the Knights to feel adversity from the start.
The Knights’ 2019 campaign got off to a fast start when junior forward Hayley Fonfara registered her second shot of the game and junior forward Haley Clark putting the rebound into the back of the net after a little more than seven minutes of play.
From there, the pressure continued to mount on Marywood as Geneseo outshot them 13 to 7 in the opening half. The Knights were rewarded for these attacks when first-year forward Maggie Phipps earned her first collegiate goal off a pass from Clark.
Phipps continued her stellar debut by placing another rebound into the net with only 19 seconds remaining in the half. She finished the season opener with four shots and two goals.
The second half was a defensive battle with sophomore goalie Natalie Chojnacki asserting her dominance against the few shots that made their way to her. With the final whistle, Chojnacki completed her seventh career shutout moving her into fourth in program history for most shutouts.
Geneseo’s 3-0 victory over Marywood was thanks to a whole team effort, but the Knight’s defense truly shined. Junior midfielder Jordan Penkitis explained that communicative play was essential to allowing five total shots, and only one on goal, in the entire second half.
“Our defense stayed low, communicated and worked together the whole game,” she said. “[We] started on the forward line though by stopping Marywood’s free hits and putting pressure on the ball.”
The Friday victory led the Knights to face the home team in the championship game; Vassar entered the game as the tournament’s five-time defending champions.
The Brewers opened quickly, netting a goal two minutes and 28 seconds into the game. Vassar continued, putting another shot past the defense just before halftime to extend their lead going into the break.
After returning to the field, the Knights began to push back. First-year forward Cara O’Shea buried a pass after a penalty corner to pull within one of the lead. Despite this and being shown two penalty cards, Vassar did not yield their attack, scoring two late goals to finish the game and claim their sixth straight tournament title.
In their loss, the Knights put up 16 shots, led by Clark with five.
Following their loss to Vassar, the Knights had to assess their strengths and weaknesses; Penkitis summed up their performance.
“Some of the key takeaways we had is that we need to play as more of a unit on the field; so, we need to move up and recover back as a team, work together and communicate,” she said. “One of the good takeaways is that we never gave up and everybody gave it their best.”
They will begin this season’s home campaign on Saturday Sept. 7 versus Skidmore College.