Mount hockey takes league opener

by TOM UTESCHER

Mount St. Joseph Academy’s field hockey squad began the defense of its Athletic Association of Catholic Academies championship with a 3-0 home field victory over visiting Gwynedd Mercy on Sept. 8.

Sophomore Katie Reinprecht tallied twice in the first period and senior Jacky Beebie added a second-half score for the Magic, while tenth grade goalie Kieran Sweeney picked up the shutout with two saves. The win over the Monarchs (0-2-1 overall) followed the Mount’s 2-1 loss earlier in the week at Neshaminy, where the locals felt constricted on the Redskins’ small field.

“It’s easy for Neshaminy to cut off passing lanes on their field,” MSJ co-coach Tina Reinprecht said after the GMA match, “but today we were able to spread out more, which suits us better.”

The other Mount mentor, Lois Weber, noted, “At Neshaminy we had more corners than they did, but we didn’t execute very well. In this [Gwynedd] game our offense was more focused.”

Gwynedd, rebuilding after losing six starters from its 2004 line-up, fell behind Mount St. Joe almost immediately, as Magic sophomore Laura Iacovetti set up the opening goal by Katie Reinprecht just 77 seconds into the contest. Mount’s Megan Maginnis made a promising rush into the circle midway through the period, but was stopped by a GMA back.

At the other end, the visitors had no one on the receiving end on a well-aimed cross from the right by Mia Rosati, and a little later the Monarchs were unable to get off a shot on a corner with seven minutes left in the half. On a Mount corner with a little over two minutes to go, the Magic passed the ball around in the circle after the insertion, and Reinprecht finished the play with a goal, receiving an assist from her sister Julia, a freshman.

The hosts added a third goal seven minutes into the second stanza. On Katie Burke’s drive at the cage from the left side of the circle the ball rebounded out to the right, where Beebie controlled it and shot it back over into the goal.

A few late corners for the Monarchs were not fruitful for the visitors, and the Mount received heads-up defense from Megan Longacre, Colleen McGowan, Liz Roberts and Meg Sabia to keep Gwynedd off the scoreboard. GMA keeper Lauren Curci finished up with six saves on the day.