Mustangs dissect Bears

Lindsay Adams hoped she could perform a little surgery  when her Fairfield Warde field hockey team took on a stubborn, defensive-minded Norwalk High squad at Fairfield’s Davis-Tetreau Field on Thursday.
Coach Jodie Shannon’s Mustangs came into the game mindful of a 1-0 triple overtime loss to the Bears that took place a year ago.
So Adams, who will be heading off to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore following this her senior year, knew that her team needed to carve away at Norwalk’s defense and find enough of an opening for a win.
Adams scored Warde’s second goal, coming at 19:39 of the second half and the Mustangs prevailed 2-0.
Emily Allen had given Warde a 1-0 lead at 24:57 after she broke in down the right side, cut toward the net at a severe angle, and scored from about seven yards out.
The win was Warde’s third in a row, bringing the team’s record to 9-3-1-1. The loss left Norwalk at 5-8-1.
“Norwalk is very much the type of team I like,” Shannon said. “They’re scrappy and they’re hard to beat, because those kids have a passion for the game. In that regard, they’re very much like us.
“Even though we didn’t score in the first 30 minutes, I thought we dominated play. We showed them we were going to do what we needed to do to control play.”
The Mustangs, according to Shannon, will have the fifth, sixth or seventh seed for the FCIAC playoffs, which get under way Saturday with four games to be played at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. at Brien McMahon in Norwalk.
Adams took a hard shot from around 22 yards out, which went off Bears’ goalkeeper Shannon O’Malley’s glove and into the net.
The Bears, behind O’Malley, had been hard to beat until then, despite Warde having a 4-1 edge in shots and 10 penalty corners in the first 30 minutes.
“They always find a way to play us tough,” Adams said. “We knew they were physical. They always are. They’re scrappy and fight very hard and refuse to give up on ground balls.
“But we came in with some fire today. When I saw that opportunity in the middle, I took it. My coach tells me I’ve got to take hard shots. So I was just following orders.”
Warde took the play to the Bears in the second half when it scored both goals and continued to out shoot the Bears (12-4 overall).
O’Malley finished with eight saves, while Warde’s keeper Katie Stepsis had to make only two.
“Knowing how well Jodie coaches, I knew that they’d come in ready and prepared,” said Norwalk coach Kyle Seaburg, who began his field-hockey coaching career years ago as a volunteer assistant at then Fairfield High School.
“You’ve got to hand it to them. They kept the pressure on us all game long. What we needed to do, and simply couldn’t, was to score an early goal because we played a very good defensive game.”
Warde got outstanding play from senior Michelle Curtis and Megan Hines in the backfield, along with solid upfront play from midfielders Sarah Fabri and sophomore Liz Gallucci.
“We don’t have the stick skills of the Wilton’s and New Canaan’s,” Shannon said. “What we have to depend on is our athleticism and our endurance.
“We only have 29 kids in our program. Today, I subbed only once so most of those kids played 60 minutes.”
Warde lost a 2-1 overtime decision to Stamford High on Monday, as the Black Knicks improved to 8-4-1.
Allen scored for the Mustangs, who completes their regular season with a visit to Westhill High in Stamford today at 4.