What a game! Playing away at Williston today, on one of those stunning late-fall days in the shadow of Mt Tom, we battled our usual bus-legs a bit, but steadily gained momentum and confidence across the first half. (Per the home-team preference, we played 25-minute halves today, rather than the now-usual 12-minute quarters). Initially a bit of an uphill climb – ball hitting our feet, spectating rather than running onto the ball – we finally managed to bang one in before halftime: a beautiful shot at the stroke from center-middie Charlotte Steffensen ’25. We’d been in the circle a minute already, so scoring in this instance felt a little like the reward that sometimes comes from persistence. It’s worth noting here that forward Lillian Auth ’25 already had set us up for that goal by hustling back to steal the ball at the mid-field, initiating that particular attack. We attempted to start the second half the way we’d finished the first – that is, quick to the ball to keep it moving. After what seemed like too many minutes of heart-thumpingly good defense in our own circle (thanks to backs Edie Huffard ’25, Penley Day ‘25, Josephine Cramer ’24), we finally made space for an attack. With under ten minutes left, an initial clear from senior captain and center back Zeyna Ilahi, together with great passing from Casey Kittredge ‘25 and Brook Stroh ’24, created a beautiful feed in the circle to forward Lillian Auth who took a nicely timed, perfectly placed shot to the left corner. Bullseye. Our defense today was led by senior captains Tioba Akinjaiyeju and Coco de Vink, with super stellar tending by keepers Ashley LaBrucherie ’23 and Juliet Amadeo ’24. All of their hard work kept us competitive. Well-played, team. Final game, here we come!