FIELD HOCKEY: Donegal cruises past Lancaster Mennonite, 11-0
LANCASTER - Donegal freshman forward Mackenzie Allessie scored 37 seconds into the Lady Indians' field hockey contest versus Section Three rival Lancaster Mennonite.
Within 20 minutes of game time, both Allessie and senior midfielder Kayla Walker had recorded a hat trick of three goals apiece.
Fast start, right?
"Honestly, I think we started out slow," said Walker, who would eventually tally four goals for the game. "We definitely should have started out better than we did."
As difficult to imagine as that may be, the Lady Indians 11-0 thrashing of the Lady Blazers on Wednesday afternoon was, in fact, the tip of the iceberg for undefeated Donegal (8-0 L-L, 13-0 overall).
"We have high expectations for this season," Walker said. "We know when we come here we usually play good so we have that stereotype to live up to I guess, so we knew we had to come out hard and beat them."
It isn't that the Lady Blazers (5-3, 5-5) are some kind of push over, either. But Donegal defeated Mennonite 9-2 in Mount Joy earlier this season, and taking the battle to the artificial turf of the Blazers home field, the Lady Indians pushed the tempo with 26 shots on goal and 12 corners to beleaguer Blazers' goalkeeper Madison Peck (12 saves) all game long.
Allessie scored on a corner play three minutes in before Walker tallied a pair of goals with assists from Rachel Robinson and Allessie. Walker and Allessie then added unassisted goals, the latter's coming on a powerful reverse sweep, rounding out the first half scoring with the Indians up 6-0.
"She's a great player," Walker said of the freshman scorer, who now has 30 goals on the season. "We knew coming in that her goal was to score. That's what we want, that's what coach wants her to do, and that's what we count on her to do."
With Donegal in command, Gabi Hess scored 40 seconds into the second half. A sequence of nice saves by Peck as well as a solid defensive save from Madeline Mast kept the Indians scoreless for the next fifteen minutes before a shot by Robinson (3 assists) was tipped in by Lily Saunders.
Robinson then assisted on a goal by Kodee Bair before Walker found the cage with under 4 minutes to play. Taylor Hauck capped the scoring with 40 seconds left.
While Walker seemed somewhat ambivalent about the Indians' grandiose margin of victory game after game, the Donegal side can look forward to a pair of big matchups this weekend, including second-place Annville-Cleona on Friday followed by a non-league matchup with Wyoming Valley West on Saturday.
"We usually don't play that well (at Annville) and they have a grass field so it's going to be completely different," Walker said. "We have to fight the adversity and just play to our fullest potential."
Which, one would think, involves getting out to a fast start.
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Girls' High School Field Hockey
L-L League Section Three
Donegal 11, Lancaster Mennonite 0
DN 6 5 - 11
LM 0 0 - 0
Donegal Scoring:
K. Walker 4 (7:58, 9:39, 19:59, 56:35)
M. Allessie 3 (0:37, 3:29, 12:33)
G. Hess (30:40)
L. Saunders (45:15)
K. Bair (55:45)
T. Hauck (59:20)
Donegal Assists: R. Robinson 3, L. Saunders, M. Allessie, G. Miller
Lancaster Mennonite Scoring: NA
Lancaster Mennonite Assists: NA
Corners-Shots: DON 12-26, LM 2-0
Goalkeeper Saves: DON K. Jean 0, LM M. Peck 12
Defensive Saves: LM M. Brubaker, F. Dinger, M. Mast