Spring Break
Field Hockey: Exhibition against English team Durham ends in 1-1 tie
Chris Brodeur
Issue date: 8/28/08 Section: Sports
With a roster that features five players born outside of the US, the field hockey team once again enters the fall with one of the more diverse blends of athletes to don Husky blue and white.
Playing in their final tune-up Wednesday before the regular season begins, UConn took the field at the newly renovated George J. Sherman Complex opposite an entire squad of international players - England's Durham University.
The Huskies came away with a 1-1 draw and an immeasurably precious experience afforded by a unique opportunity head coach Nancy Stevens wasn't going to pass up.
"Durham was doing a tour of New England and we were asked if we wanted to play them and we just went, 'absolutely'," Stevens said. "In England, there's no age limit for teams, so if you're going for a Ph.D. or a post-doc, you can play. They have a player who's 35. This was a great opportunity for us to play with a team with a lot of experience and tactically they were very sound."
Stevens and her staff worked all summer on implementing a style of play influenced by international field hockey, which differs greatly from the collegiate game. It requires the offense to adapt easily into defensive formations and the defense to push forward and help on the attack. The visitors from across the Atlantic served as a measuring stick for the process.
The game was scoreless through the first half with UConn mustering just three shots and Durham registering only four of their own as the two teams were content to spread the field and apply various defensive presses over the course of the first 35 minutes.
Less than three minutes into the second half, the Huskies broke through for the contest's first score with some help from one of their imports. Senior forward and Zimbabwe native Lauren Aird sent a pass from just in front of the end line to sophomore forward Melissa Gonzalez near the right post, who promptly chipped a backhand over the head of Durham goalkeeper Amanda Jones.
"Lolly [Aird] gave me an awesome ball from the end line; she fed me perfectly," Gonzalez said of the play that broke the scoreless tie. "I felt there was a girl on my back so I couldn't get the regular stick-side shot so I put it on my backhand and I thought I'd go for it."
Gonzalez was a Second Team All-Big East selection from a year ago and her 22 points put her fourth among her teammates on the nation's eighth-ranked offense in 2007. She's been a member of the U.S. U-21 National team and trained with the U.S. Junior National Camp where she refined her backhand in the off-season.
"Melissa is one of the engines on the team, she's a workhorse, she's tireless, and she can finish," Stevens said. "It was especially meaningful because she's been working on that backhand shot and she executed it beautifully."
Durham out-shot UConn again in the second period, 7-4, and were rewarded for their efforts with an equalizing score with just under 21 minutes remaining following a pair of penalty strikes.
Gonzalez praised the opposition and reaffirmed her coach's assertion that sharing the field with the club from England can only help the Huskies as the season kicks off this Saturday.
"They travel the world, they play English teams, it's a dominant sport over there," Gonzalez said. "They were very good from pressing, to shooting, to scoring. "It was good preparation for the Big East and we have good competition coming up."
Overtime rules were not applied to the exhibition and the tie stood. Results aside, Stevens was pleased with her team's effort and, in using 16 different players in the game, confident that depth will be a strength for her group as they begin their defense of the Big East Championship and the quest for a third consecutive trip to the Final Four.
"We're trying to find the ideal lineup and also we're trying to find a group of 15 to 18 players that can play," Stevens said. "If you can have better than just a starting 11 you're going to be much deeper and we did that."
UConn opens the season at home Saturday against Sacred Heart.
Christopher.Brodeur@UConn.edu
Playing in their final tune-up Wednesday before the regular season begins, UConn took the field at the newly renovated George J. Sherman Complex opposite an entire squad of international players - England's Durham University.
The Huskies came away with a 1-1 draw and an immeasurably precious experience afforded by a unique opportunity head coach Nancy Stevens wasn't going to pass up.
"Durham was doing a tour of New England and we were asked if we wanted to play them and we just went, 'absolutely'," Stevens said. "In England, there's no age limit for teams, so if you're going for a Ph.D. or a post-doc, you can play. They have a player who's 35. This was a great opportunity for us to play with a team with a lot of experience and tactically they were very sound."
Stevens and her staff worked all summer on implementing a style of play influenced by international field hockey, which differs greatly from the collegiate game. It requires the offense to adapt easily into defensive formations and the defense to push forward and help on the attack. The visitors from across the Atlantic served as a measuring stick for the process.
The game was scoreless through the first half with UConn mustering just three shots and Durham registering only four of their own as the two teams were content to spread the field and apply various defensive presses over the course of the first 35 minutes.
Less than three minutes into the second half, the Huskies broke through for the contest's first score with some help from one of their imports. Senior forward and Zimbabwe native Lauren Aird sent a pass from just in front of the end line to sophomore forward Melissa Gonzalez near the right post, who promptly chipped a backhand over the head of Durham goalkeeper Amanda Jones.
"Lolly [Aird] gave me an awesome ball from the end line; she fed me perfectly," Gonzalez said of the play that broke the scoreless tie. "I felt there was a girl on my back so I couldn't get the regular stick-side shot so I put it on my backhand and I thought I'd go for it."
Gonzalez was a Second Team All-Big East selection from a year ago and her 22 points put her fourth among her teammates on the nation's eighth-ranked offense in 2007. She's been a member of the U.S. U-21 National team and trained with the U.S. Junior National Camp where she refined her backhand in the off-season.
"Melissa is one of the engines on the team, she's a workhorse, she's tireless, and she can finish," Stevens said. "It was especially meaningful because she's been working on that backhand shot and she executed it beautifully."
Durham out-shot UConn again in the second period, 7-4, and were rewarded for their efforts with an equalizing score with just under 21 minutes remaining following a pair of penalty strikes.
Gonzalez praised the opposition and reaffirmed her coach's assertion that sharing the field with the club from England can only help the Huskies as the season kicks off this Saturday.
"They travel the world, they play English teams, it's a dominant sport over there," Gonzalez said. "They were very good from pressing, to shooting, to scoring. "It was good preparation for the Big East and we have good competition coming up."
Overtime rules were not applied to the exhibition and the tie stood. Results aside, Stevens was pleased with her team's effort and, in using 16 different players in the game, confident that depth will be a strength for her group as they begin their defense of the Big East Championship and the quest for a third consecutive trip to the Final Four.
"We're trying to find the ideal lineup and also we're trying to find a group of 15 to 18 players that can play," Stevens said. "If you can have better than just a starting 11 you're going to be much deeper and we did that."
UConn opens the season at home Saturday against Sacred Heart.
Christopher.Brodeur@UConn.edu
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