AUBURN — Senior Molly Harmon had her fingerprints all over Mt. Blue’s field hockey season opener at Sherwood Heights Elementary School on Thursday.
Harmon collected two assists and scored unassisted to help the Cougars break on through to the other side with a 3-0 victory over Edward Little.
“I think we just were finally really getting more aggressive and moving our feet more in the circle and really getting on those passes,” Harmon said
Harmon added that pent-up frustration over missed opportunities in the first half motivated the Cougars to put some points on the scoreboard.
“Hopefully, we can keep our whole season going at this tempo and keep up nice and intense the whole time,” she said.
In the first half, the Cougars could not get anything past Edward Little goalie Elise Syphers and her band of stubborn defensive players, who left Mt. Blue players frustrated despite their best efforts to put one in the cage.
For 40 minutes, the Red Eddies staved off numerous incursions by Mt. Blue’s relentless offense.
But the Cougars found a way in when Eva Stevens scored the icebreaker with 20:48 left in the game. It was Harmon’s first assist that set up Stevens’ tie buster.
“Their communication and constantly putting the pressure on and the passing (was impressive),” Mt. Blue coach Jody Harmon said. “The communication was the key and that’s what they are working on, and just keep attacking and pressuring the ball.
“I am finally glad we finished by putting them in the cage. We had a lot of opportunities, but their goalie was outstanding, too. She did a great job. Just happy to get a victory.”
Molly Harmon followed Stevens’ scoring act and slapped a goal in the net 42 seconds later to give the Cougars some breathing room with about 20 minutes left to play.
Ashley Parlin topped off Mt. Blue’s scoring with her goal with 17 seconds left in game. Harmon had a hand in this one, too, collecting her second assist.
There were other heroic moments by the Cougars. Goalie Brooke Bolduc, who had a light day for the most part, came out of the net in second half and staved off EL’s tenacious attacks on offense.
EL coach Kim Joller liked what she saw in her players and was proud of their temerity.
“(Elise Syphers) worked really, really hard. I think our defense worked really hard,” Joller said. “We knew this was going to be tough going in.
“Mt. Blue is always strong so we were defensively trying to match that. I think we had good coverage. We know we have some things to work on in the field, and that kind of stuck out for us.
“But the girls worked hard. They were connecting well with some good passes. Of course, Elise back there is really helpful.”
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