By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
HAMMONTON — If you want to find out how good a high school field hockey team is, look at how it responds to a loss.
On Monday, St. Joseph Academy was shut out by rival Hammonton, losing 3-0. But on Wednesday afternoon, the Wildcats bounced right back, taking down previously undefeated Holy Spirit, 5-0, despite a slow start in our Bunting Family Pharmacy Marquee Matchup.
The teams were scoreless through the first two quarters, but St. Joe made some adjustments at halftime and came out roaring in the second half, scoring a pair of goals in the third quarter before blitzing the Spartans with three more in the fourth.
St. Joseph (3-2, 2-2 Cape-Atlantic League American) scored it’s first goal about halfway through the third quarter, as Emmah Devlin took a pass from Sam Butter off a corner and found the back of the cage for a 1-0 Wildcats lead. Later in the third, Nina Aponte shot a pass up to Miranda DiGerolamo, and Spirit was whistled for a foul inside the circle, resulting in a penalty stroke. Aponte stepped up and calmly buried a shot into the lower left corner of the cage to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
“I think we came in not wanting to pass as much, but toward the end of the game we realized our passes were what was working, and that’s what led us to the win,” Devlin, a senior captain, said. “We tended to take it ourselves inside the circle (in the first half) instead of getting passes through. Once (the passing) started to work, we were able to finish shots.”
“We didn’t play our game (in the first half). We didn’t come out doing what we’re used to doing, the little things that add up to the big things,” said St. Joe coach Corrine Etter-Veight. “We couldn’t finish around the cage, we weren’t making the passes and specific runs that we had been working on. In the fourth quarter we really turned it on, started clicking, making those runs we needed to make and moving the ball into space”
Holy Spirit’s defense — led by Abby D’Archangelo, Maci Berry and Jackie Cireno, in front of goalie Kennedy Ward — was solid throughout the first half and Etter-Veight admitted it took her team a while to figure out ways to attack the Spartans (3-1, 3-0 CAL United) and get quality shots off.
“They are a good team and played strong. They are aggressive, they’re quick, they are not afraid of the ball and they are well coached. They definitely pack in the circle, which makes it tough to get by, and they have some good sticks,” Etter-Veight said. “There were always two or three (Holy Spirit) girls around the ball, and that makes it tough. That’s why we went back to getting out of the 1-v-1s, 1-v-2s, and getting back into our passing game, which ultimately led us to the victory.”
Stella Devlin — one of three Devlin sisters on the Wildcats’ roster, along with Emmah and Norrah — gave St. Joe a commanding 3-0 lead when she scored with about eight minutes left in the game, and the Wildcats added goals by Mattie Moore and Julia Umasella in the final three minutes to improve to 3-2 overall heading into Monday’s game against last year’s CAL runner-up, Ocean City.
“We knew it was going to be a good game, but we knew coming in what we had to work on and what we had to do to win,” said Emmah Devlin. “We had to work together. We’re pretty confident in what we do, we work together well, and I think as the season goes on we’ll keep progressing as a team.”
“For me, it’s always growth — individual growth and growth as a team. We set goals in the beginning of the season, both individual and team, and we really focus on them in practice,” Etter-Veight said. “And after every game we’re sitting down for pretty much the entire JV game digesting and dissecting what we need to fix so we can bring that into the next game. It’s all about development. How can we get better? How much can we grow? It’s all about the grind, how much we want it and how hard we’re willing to work.”
WHAT’S NEXT: St. Joseph Academy hosts Ocean City on Monday at 4 p.m. Holy Spirit travels to Atlantic City on Friday at 4 p.m.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com.
