Early 2-1 Record

For Lady Hornets

By Laurie-Jean B. Gauthier

In their season opener in Bethel on Wednesday, Sept. 5, the Whitcomb Lady Hornets hosted the Rochester Rockettes in battle royal with the Hornets prevailing 6-4 for an early 1-0 record. Rochester falls to 0-2.

Less than three minutes in at 37:37 Rochester connected, sending the ball into the cage for a 1-0 Rockette lead. This put Whitcomb in a come-from-behind position that they managed to repel by depositing the next four consecutive goals of the game. Goal #1 came at 26:44 when Emily Durfee passed the orb over to Molly Taylor, in the center, who delivered a clean shot for a tied game. Goal #2 came off a Mikayla Dieffenbach carry passed to M. Taylor who sent the ball in at 18:06. Emily Durfee scored her first varsity goal at 15:26 when M. Taylor brought the ball down the middle then passed it over to the wing where Durfee took over and dribbled the orb in for goal #3, putting Whitcomb up three to one entering the break.

After the break, Dieffenbach netted her first varsity goal off a corner kick delivery. The Rockettes responded with back-to-back goals at 31:17 and 24:53 to cut the Hornet lead to one. They even had a chance to tie the score when Sam Mishkit was awarded a penalty kick but the kick failed, keeping them down.

Molly Taylor earned the "hat trick" with a kick for center at 13:27 and added another at 7:43, both unassisted for a personal best four goals/one assist outing. At 3:07 Rochester scored the last goal of the game. The Rochester goals were scored by Miranda Shepard (two) and one each for Alica Waite and Krystal Bowen.

Hornets Dieffenbach and Durfee finished the game with one goal and one assist apiece.

With the loss to graduation of four-year starting goalie Jody Martin for Rochester, first-year coach Alicia Munyon utilized both Megan Pratt and Madori Cruikshank, who combined for 19 saves.

Whitcomb suffered the same fate with the loss of Maggie Eddy, but an outstanding performance by Laurel Adams, who had 27 saves in the contest, should ease some fears for the Hornets. Allison Richards did an outstanding job for Whitcomb, stopping the ball with some very powerful boots.

Freshman Brittany Flint joins the team and made her varsity premiere along with Lacie Thompson, Jenna Connolly and foreign exchange student Aneta Merksbauerova. Whitcomb travels to South Royalton on Tuesday, Sept. 18 to face the Royals and to Chelsea on Thursday, to face the Red Devils before returning to Bethel to play the Craftsbury Chargers on Friday, Sept 21. All games start at 4:30 p.m.

Trojans Win

The Twinfield Trojans came to Bethel last Friday and managed to slip by the Hornets for a 4-3 win. Twinfield found the back of the net in the 14^th minute of play. Just six minutes later Twinfield took a two-goal advantage, with Camille DuPont and Betsy Martin scoring.

Taylor cut the Trojan lead just two minutes later with an unassisted deposit followed by Flint’s first varsity goal off a Taylor pass for a tied first half, 2-2.

Twinfield added a third goal nine minutes into the second half, when Martin added her second tally to the score for the Trojans, and Powers deposited a shot for 25 yards out that hit the cross bar then ricocheted off and into the net at 23:00 minutes for another two-goal advantage. Taylor added one more to the Hornet tally 30 minutes into the second half off a penalty kick. The Hornets continued on the attack, but Trojan goalie Stella Leach kept the Hornets out of the net for the remaining 10 minutes of the game to secure the victory.

Leach had 17 saves in the outing and Hornet goalie Laurel Adams made 21 saves.

Win Over TSA

The Lady Hornets traveled to The Sharon Academy to face the Phoenix for the first time this season, Monday, and put Bethel back in the winning column with a 3-1 victory over their host. Emily Durfee put the Hornets on the board just five minutes in, off an assist from Molly Taylor, as Whitcomb took the never-ending lead, holding TSA scoreless throughout the remaining 35 minutes of the first half.

Molly Taylor added her seventh and eighth goals of the season to the Hornet tally in the second half, as Whitcomb headed toward their first shut-out victory, but that shut-out was erased with just seconds remaining when Ana DiFriez sent an unassisted orb into the nets. TSA keeper Emily Chadwick had five saves and Hornet Laurel Adams had eight saves in the contest.

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