Haddon Township awakens in second half

Brelyn Howard, Gina Brown, and Kim Flacco were among the Haddon Township field hockey players who weren't happy about how they had played in a scoreless first half Thursday against visiting Collingswood.

So each of the three forwards scored a goal after intermission and the Hawks won the Colonial Conference interdivisional game, 3-1.

Haddon Township (13-3) didn't play with a spring in its step in the first half, while the Panthers (10-5) did.

Defensively, Collingswood swarmed to the ball, holding Township to one shot on goalkeeper Allison Hawco. On offense, the Panthers smacked four shots at goalie Kaitlyn Brendlinger, who handled all of them.

"We didn't come out strong enough, and Coach gave it to us at halftime," said Howard, a senior who scored the first goal 2 minutes, 36 seconds into the second half. "We came out strong in the second half."

So strong, in fact, that it took less than a minute for Brown to make the score 2-0, prompting Collingswood coach Val Dayton to call a timeout to tell her players to keep their heads up and to fight back.

Retaliating was difficult because the Hawks played so well in the second half, out-cornering Collingswood, 8-0, and outshooting the Panthers, 10-3.

Although the game was not a divisional battle, neither team wanted to lose because it's a neighborhood rivalry and the playoffs are coming up.

"It's important for us to try and get into the playoffs going strong," Howard said. "They are always competitive and physical, and they are always good competition for us.

"We see them at social gatherings," she added. "We're friends."

One of their friends, senior forward Jordan Calderone, scored with 4:48 left in the game. Calderone slipped sway from a defender at the stroke line, seven yards out, and fired into the right side of the cage.

With the lead narrowed to 2-1, Haddon Township kept its composure and Flacco, the team's scoring leader with 17 goals, came through.

Flacco, a sophomore, was about two feet from the left post when she took a feed from Brown and slapped a shot to the left of Hawco for a 3-1 lead with 46 seconds left.

"It felt pretty good because it put the game away," Flacco said.

Township coach Genevieve Hunter said that in the second half the Hawks played good team defense and passed to each other instead of trying to do it all themselves. And it all came together in Flacco's goal.

"That is the goal that I have been waiting for all season," Hunter said. "Taylor Kennedy didn't let up. She got it to Gina [Brown], and Gina made the perfect pass to the post."

Collingswood   0 1 – 1

Haddon Township   0 3 – 3

Goals: C–Jordan Calderone; HT–Brelyn Howard, Gina Brown, Kim Flacco.

Saves: C–Allison Hawco 8; HT–Kaitlyn Brendlinger 6.