EDWARDSVILLE – Sophia Swalley had Edwardsville's only goal in the Tigers' 4-1 field hockey loss to Villa Duchesne at Tiger Stadium Monday afternoon.
The goal was Swalley's sixth of the season; she scored on a short corner restart just past the midway point of the first half.
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“Natalie (Nava) got the ball to Allie (Hosto); that drew the defenders out, and at the last second, she slipped it off to me and nobody was on me, so I one-timed it in,” Swalley said of her goal. “We had practiced that corner a few days ago and it worked – I was really happy about it.”
Despite the loss, Swalley, a senior, found positives from the game. “We really worked hard together,” Swalley said. “There were a few times we got frazzled and after they scored, we had to tell ourselves 'deep breath – we got this, it's only a goal'.
“I thought we did really well bouncing back; regardless of the score, I thought we did really well.”
Swalley has played field hockey since she was in sixth grade. “I had actually tried out for the softball team (at her school) and I didn't make it; I still wanted to play a sport, so I went out for field hockey and fell in love with it – I've been playing it ever since.
“I absolutely love it; I play here and I play on the Aim field hockey club in Missouri.”
As far as this season goes, Swalley believes the Tigers are having a good season; they stand at 6-6-2 on the year following Monday's loss. “We're having a really good season,” Swalley said. “We started off strong and I think each game, we're learning things and building up; I feel like we're not going back at all, we're going to keep going up.”
