Mason Rode of Springside Chestnut Hill (right) moves upfield as fellow senior Emma Lynam of Germantown Friends probes for the ball. In the background is another GFS 12th-grader, Livi Pinover. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

The field hockey teams from Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and Germantown Friends School continued on different paths in the 2016 season as the two nearby non-league rivals met on the turf at SCH last Tuesday afternoon.

The host Blue Devils of SCH finished off their early slate of non-league matches by developing a 3-0 halftime lead into a 7-0 victory that gave them a record of 5-0. The GFS Tigers own an early win over Archbishop Ryan, but they slipped to 1-3 on the season with last Tuesday's setback.

SCH seniors Maggie King and Mason Rode each rang up two goals and an assist for the victors. Sophomores Colebe Oliver and Savannah Sweitzer each had one goal and one assist, and the other goal was supplied by freshman Erin Fennessy, a new student at the school.

At the scoring table, no saves needed to be recorded for Blue Devils senior goalie Audrey Hinchey. A graduate of Norwood Fontbonne Academy, Hinchey has started all five games thus far, with freshman Shannon McNally serving as her enthusiastic understudy.

At the other end of the field last Tuesday, junior keeper Layah Taylor, a returning starter, was under fire much of the afternoon, and made 14 saves.

The pressure from the Springside Chestnut Hill offense began right off the opening pass-back, with the Blue Devils earning a penalty corner in the first minute. They didn't get off a direct shot here, but with one minute and 24 seconds elapsed the goal that would become the game winner was scored by Sweitzer, who knocked in a loose ball in front of the Tigers' cage.

A minute later, the host team tipped the ball wide of the goal on another corner play, and later, a scramble in front of the cage ended with King scoring her first goal with 23:33 remaining in the first half. After Oliver chipped a ball just outside of the left post, the Tigers were able to take the play up toward the middle of the field for a spell.

With 4:57 on the clock, the halftime tally of 3-0 was locked in when Fennessy put the ball away off of the rebound of a shot by Oliver.

When Germantown Friends did penetrate across the midfield line (frequently led by senior Livi Pinover), SCH defensive mid Mackenzie Ramsey, a junior, was often involved in reversing the flow of play.

Fourth-year Blue Devils head coach Katie Mersky said that in the midfield, King, Rode, and sophomore Sarah Edelson have been functioning

almost seamlessly as a unit. In SCH's closest game thus far, Edelson scored the lone goal in an overtime win against Shipley School. Edelson just transferred in from Wissahickon High School, whose traditionally strong program produced 2012 and 2106 U.S. Olympian Katie (O'Donnell) Bam.

The score at halftime and also at the end of the game could've been more lopsided, considering the amount of time SCH players spent in and around the Germantown Friends circle. The Tigers' first-year head coach, Nakira Downes, credited senior Emma Lynam, juniors Sydney Slavitt and Allie Lipshutz, sophomore Jane McLaughlin, and freshman Maddie Goldborough with playing some tenacious defense throughout the early weeks of the season.

In the second half against GFS, the Blue Devils once again were awarded a corner in the first minute, but they did not add to their score until just over five minutes had gone by. It came on a reversed-stick shot by Rode from high in the left side of the circle.

With 19:08 remaining in the game, Sweitzer had the last touch on the ball before Oliver whacked it in. The last two goals (at 14:31 and 12:22) came through collaboration between King and Rode; Rode assisted King on SCH's sixth goal, then the two reversed roles for the final marker of the day.