Milford traveled to Woodbridge on Tuesday for the Buccaneers sixth game of the season. While a win was important, Milford has had an up and down early season but was expected to take the next step for this young, ever improving team. Entering the game with a 2-3 record, the Buccaneers needed to show improvement in the area of putting four quarters of solid field hockey together.
Milford would do just that as they came away with a 6-0 road victory. While the score looks like an easy win, it was more of a step in this young team’s development. While it looked like the route might be on early, as freshman Aiyana Atkins would find the back of the net less than five minutes into the game, there was still a lot of work to do for the Buccaneers in what would be an important learning experience for them.
As the rest of the first half unfolded, Milford mounted a relentless attack on the Woodbridge squad. Constantly pressing Woodbridge however, would not result in any more Milford goals in the first half. With Woodbridge packed in tightly in the defensive end throughout the game, Milford needed to find an answer if they were to gain the statement win they wanted .
“We had a lot of chances, but it’s very difficult to score when the other team has so many players in the circle. It was up to us, as a team to find an answer to the problem and I am very happy with how we made the correct changes to break the defense.” coach Andrea McPike said.
The answer would come in changing how Milford would attack the Woodbridge defense. Working the ball in from the sides of the circle, the Buccaneers found passing lanes that would develop into goals. In the third quarter junior Katelyn Joseph would add Milford’s second goal with just under five minutes remaining. Not long after junior Molly Masten would score from the middle of the circle as Milford would extend the lead to 3-0. The Buccaneers were on their way.
“We were controlling the flow of play, but couldn’t score. Woodbridge played very good defense today, but once we figured out how to attack them, we really opened up the game.” Masten stated.
In the fourth quarter Milford would add three more goals, with Masten blistering a goal from just inside the circle with only a minute and a half gone in the fourth quarter. With the feeding frenzy now on, Milford put their foot on the gas and didn’t look back, as senior Isabel Betts and freshman Bria Leyanna would close out the scoring for Milford.
Not going unnoticed was the play of the mid-field and defense. Not allowing any shots on goal, Milford rarely let Woodbridge attack or spend much significant time in the Milford end. Key to that defense was senior Leah Metzner who has been an anchor in the back this season.
“We really did a good job of sustaining pressure on Woodbridge, and it really paid off. Getting the ball up the field is crucial to that, and we did that really well today. For the most part we are starting to really find a rhythm as a team, I believe there are a lot of good things ahead for us the rest of the year.” Metzner said.
