The girls were full of nervous energy before the game. Last season was defined by a series of ties against York House, all of which led to a deciding game where the girls fell to YHS. A degree of revenge may have been on the minds for the 13 returning players from last year's group. 

Making right last year's loss seemed far away through the first six or seven minutes. York came out flying and LFA was flat. Bobbled balls and poor decisions gifted YHS several short corners in the first minutes. Great work by both Gabby Lee '19 running out first and some timely tackles by Ashley Klomp '18 combined to nullify the threat. With time came confidence and slowly the team found their legs. Co-Captain Grace Doyle '17 set the tone with calm, confident decisions in the middle and some lovely hits to relieve the early pressure. Eleanor (Elmo) Morrison '19 slid into the middle of the pitch, allowing us to take advantage of her elite speed and distribution. It also allowed for us to move Nicole Shi '18 to the wide, right side, which added a level of creativity and skill which quickly started to pay dividends. 

Attack up the right side was nearly always successful. On the wide right back, Ashley was both speedy and consistent. Gabby used her speed and tenacity with purpose and we quickly found opportunities to break through as the YHS defence simply couldn't contain Gabby, nor the far side high runner Mira Teoli '18. And, sure enough, as we stretched out the York defenders, Allison Kuzyk '20 began to see much more of the ball which was bad news for the opposition. 

As the team clicked, the chances started aplenty. Gabby, fed by a clever ball from Allison, broke in down the side and slid a ball to Mira who narrowly missed putting LFA up 1-0.

Desperate to change the focus of the game, York pushed to their right--our left. Naomi Shi '18, Alex Legge '19 and Sarah Foster '17 were more than up to the task. Indeed, they turned the ball over so frequently and pushed back up the left that York was left reeling, despite their captain's best efforts on their right side. Up front, our relentless running and dangerous speed continued unabated when Lorraine Fabre '18 and Olivia Graham '17 spelled in on the wings. 


With the suffocating mid-field lock working, LFA switched to a press and it was game on. Having practiced the tactic switch on the fly throughout Bridgman, the girls implemented perfectly. Without a big hitter like our Grace, York found themselves pushed back and under near constant pressure. With but a minute left in the half, Gabby broke free again on the right, burst by the last defender and slotted a calm shot to the right corner. Up 1-0 with moments in the half, it was a deserved lead.

Where in past games there might have been nerves at play to put the result in question, the second half was clinical. We switched back to a half-court press, further confounding the opposition attack. Frances Scheepers '18, who is still coming back from a serious injury, gave us 15 quality minutes before giving way to Keely McConnell '17 at the back. They played great shut-down hockey. 

Meanwhile, Grace and Elmo controlled the midfield and York had few answers to our build-up. Nicole got more dangerous as the game went on and we poured forward. It was hardly a few minutes into the half when the Angels were awarded their first corner. Grace's deception after receiving the push freed Nicole to rip home a confident flick to the lower corner. That was followed up by a booming shot from Grace on another short corner which found the back of the net. Meanwhile, Allison absolutely tore through the defenders, who were left with no choice but to clatter her stick in hopes of breaking the play. 

With each goal, the team confidently dug in to take away any chance of allowing the momentum to switch back to York House. Jessica Chong '18 played out the entire game at centre back with hardly an error and wonderful poise getting the ball into her midfield under pressure. When Gracie Korac '20 joined her on the wide-side back, they were able to deny any danger from approaching our D. The few desperate forays into our D were calmly cleared by Claudia Aparicio '17, who was playing with the same sort of confidence that characterized her games against the top AAA teams over the weekend. 

One never had a sense that the result was in doubt. The team seamlessly switched back from a press to a half-court lock and confidently wore the time down with great defence and several dangerous build-ups into the York House twenty-five that might have extended the score. None moreso than a clean break away for Mira that was badly tackled from behind and would have likely been a penalty stroke were it no already 3-0.

The win keeps our league record undefeated at 1-0-1. Points against Crofton tomorrow or York House next week will all but assure LFA of the second seed for the region to provincials. It remains unclear if that second seed is direct entry or a wild-card play-down to get to provincials. Congratulations on a great game!