Norwood sticksters made strides during season

Posted 11/3/14

Seventh-grader Charlotte Gilmore scored twice in Norwood Fontbonne Academy’s 4-0 victory in the Bears’ field hockey season finale. (Photo by Chris Thistle)[/caption] by Tom Utescher After a …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Norwood sticksters made strides during season

Posted

Seventh-grader Charlotte Gilmore scored twice in Norwood Fontbonne Academy’s 4-0 victory in the Bears’ field hockey season finale. (Photo by Chris Thistle) Seventh-grader Charlotte Gilmore scored twice in Norwood Fontbonne Academy’s 4-0 victory in the Bears’ field hockey season finale. (Photo by Chris Thistle)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

After a little bit of a slow start, the girls of Norwood Fontbonne Academy continued to improve and enjoyed a successful varsity field hockey season.

The eighth-grade veterans were joined by some talented seventh-graders who were becoming full-time varsity players for the first time, so it took awhile for the team to really gel. Unfortunately, matches against many of the toughest league opponents occurred early in the schedule, as longtime coach Anne Porter pointed out.

Getting back on an even keel, the team went 3-3-1 in the Girls Catholic Academies League and finished one spot out of the playoffs. Norwood posted a 5-0 record in non-league games, mostly against Inter-Ac and Friends Schools League opponents.

Seventh-graders Alyssa Charlton and Charlotte Gilmore developed into formidable scorers, joining eighth-grade forwards such as Sonja Bjornson and Caroline Timoney. Timoney’s twin sister Eva was positioned back down the field on defense, where a mainstay for the Bears was eighth-grade center back Gianna Giovannone. They played in front of goalie Mary Kate Ciolko, also an eighth-grader.

Linking things together in the midfield were players such as Katherine Christen and Mari Kniezewski, who are both in eighth grade, and seventh grader Victoria Williamson.

On October 23, the Bears put an exclamation point at the end of their season with a 4-0 victory at Waldron Mercy Academy.

sports