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Sports

Field Hockey Advances to Semifinals with Win Over Sachem North

Ward Melville field hockey won quarterfinal match against Sachem North, 3-0.

Ward Melville (15-0, 15 –1) kept Sachem North (11-5, 12-6) scoreless and allowed only one shot on goal to earn a 3-0 win on Friday and bring itself a step closer to a repeat of a Long Island championship.

Heroes: Callie Vitalo scored two of Ward Melville's three goals, after Yuna Hur first put the Patriots on the scoreboard. Around 10 minutes into the game the Flaming Arrows began to put pressure around the Ward Melville goal. Sachem North had two consecutive penalty corners before Abby Beltrani stole the ball and took it upfield. Quickly, Beltrani fed the ball in to Hur for a soft shot, putting the game at 1-0. About 10 minutes after that, Sam Jacobson sent a pass across the shooting zone, where a lined-up Vitalo only needed one touch to fire home the Patriots' second goal.  In the second half, Vitalo found her own rebound at the goal and tacked on the Patriots' third and final score. "With all the practices in a row and having to reschedule yesterday, we were excited to play and determined to get goals,"  Vitalo said.

Turning Point:  The first half started out with a dominant Ward Melville, but there were periods of a threatening Sachem North. Those periods of threat, however, did not last long enough for a score, or for much of a shot.  The Flaming Arrows' closest opportunity on goal was wide and kicked out by Patriots' defense. The Patriots were unwilling to allow any offensive momentum around their goal, and once they had sticks on the ball, there was no give of possession.  Ward Melville put up 18 shots compared to one shot from Sachem North all game long.

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Quote: "Everyone played exceptionally well today.  We do have to make sure we're playing all 60 minutes; there were some points where we were letting up, and we don't want to be in that situation," Ward Melville head coach Shannon Watson said.

Bottom Line: These teams had seen each other before, in the regular season, with similar outcomes. Sachem North came into this game the No. 8 seed, having just beaten Connetquot in overtime on Tuesday. Ward Melville hadn't played since Oct. 27, and has been seeded No. 1 as Divison I champions. This win keeps Ward Melville on track to follow up last year's appearance in the New York State semifinals.

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Who's Next: Winner of No. 4 East Islip and No. 5 Northport, Monday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m.

Key Statistics:

  • Callie Vitalo- 2 goals
  • Yuna Hur- 1 goal
  • Abby Beltrani- 1 assist
  • Sam Jacobson- 1 assist
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