After a long trip to St. Paul’s, Deerfield faced off against a very evenly matched St. Paul’s team, who came at us with tons of speed and pressure. The first five minutes of the game were spent in the defensive zone. Samara Cummings ‘20 made some key recoveries and Kat Hioe ‘20 who played goalie the first half came up big in net. Emma Tennant ‘21 used her customary foot skills to fake out the St. Paul’s defenders, while Kiki Brainard ‘22 had some great possession of the ball and looks to net. Towards the end of the half, there was a textbook change of fields crossing the entire span of the field, from Mary Lee ‘23 to Whitney Vogt ‘20 who crossed it to Caroline Hoff ‘22 for a quick goal in tight. Kristine Yang ‘21 kept the defense alive in the final minutes of the half, before unfortunately succumbing to a knee injury.
The second half started with a strong offensive push by Deerfield, but before long St. Paul’s took control of the game. Our defensive unit played big and constantly took away chances from the other team, clearing out balls and blocking shots. Greer Anderson ‘22, our keeper for the second half, was excellent, saving some point blank shots as well as some tricky long balls. Claire Ott ‘20 was very speedy, and nearly scored, but it wasn’t until the last minute of play before Deerfield fired home another goal by Kiki Brainard ‘22 off of a pass from Caroline Hoff ‘22. Though the second half was a little flat for Deerfield, the team was proud of our defensive prowess, as well as our ability to keep and extend a lead in a very evenly matched game.