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EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's goal heading into the Monday afternoon field hockey game against Parkway South was a simple one:
Get off to as fast a start as possible and keep the pressure up on the Patriots.
The Tigers did just that, getting off several shots in the opening minutes of the game at the Patriot goal and kept play at the South end of the field virtually throughout the length of the match, finally breaking through 13 minutes into the game and never letting up as EHS took an 8-0 win over South at Tiger Stadium.
Edwardsville improved to 5-4-2 on the season; Parkway South fell to 0-11-1. Edwardsville's Natalie Nava led the way for her team with a goal and two assists on the day.
“They took control of the field from the beginning; that was something that we talked about in our huddle, come out of the gates blazing,” said Tiger coach Jaimee Phegley. “That was something we had been struggling with a little bit – I mean, we got a (short) corner (stroke) in the first 30 seconds, so I was happy to see them busting through from the beginning of the game all the way to the end.”
The Tigers, once they got out of the gates, never let up throughout the entire 60 minutes. “They definitely got us started; they kept the good passing going – it was beautiful passing for them,” Phegley said. “They were able to get from one end of the field to the other with no break in their passing, so I was really happy with that.
“We were talking about that we wanted our (winning) streak to start when we played at Parkway West last week, that we wanted to get on a roll and this is our second (win) in a row today. They played really well; I'm happy with their performance.”
Rachel Goebel got the Tigers going when Nava found the freshman with a pass; Goebel then put the ball into the net at 13:33 to get EHS going. Allie Hosto added to the lead at 15:22 when she found the range and scored; from that point, there was no stopping Edwardsville.
Mattie Norton then made it 3-0 from a Nava assist at 20:34, with Sophia Swalley expanding the lead at 24:47 and Kelley Noud scoring from a Hosto assist at 26:08; 50 seconds later, Nava joined the goal parade when she scored to close out the first half with the Tigers ahead 6-0.
In the second half, Grace Bolton added to the lead off a Maren McSparin assist at 46:16 and JV callup Jessica Glenn closed out the scoring, with a Kalie Bertles assist, at 54:17.
Goaltenders Sara Blume and Annie Farrar shared the shutout for Edwardsville on the day.
Next up for the Tigers is a Wednesday contest at Rockwood Marquette before they come back home at 4:15 p.m. Friday game against Cor Jesu in the annual Stick Up for Hunger game, a fund-raiser for the GlenEd Food Pantry.
