OJR tops Downingtown East after slow start

Owen J. Roberts drew a bye in the opening round of the District 1 Class AAA field hockey playoffs, and that led to a little concern for coach Clarence Jannelle. With a bye for the third-seeded Wildcats, it meant another day of practice, but he didn't see the sharpness that he expected.

On Tuesday, the Wildcats went through a full gamut of game situations they might face in their opening game against Downingtown East on Wednesday. Jannelle called that practice better than Monday's, but it still wasn't what he wanted.

So when his team came out a little slow - East's Haley Nelson scored with less than five minutes gone in the game - Jannelle took advantage of an East timeout to talk. The Wildcats tied the game shortly before halftime then scored a pair of second-half goals for a 3-1 victory.

The win moved the Wildcats into a Friday home date with No. 6 seed Council Rock North, a winner over 11th seed Upper Dublin. It also extended their winning streak to eight games.

"That was a little scary," Wildcats senior Becca Garges said of the early East lead. "But then we got to moving the ball the way Coach wanted us to. He told us to keep the ball out of the middle and up the right side because they were strong in the middle."

"We knew we had to push a little harder," added junior Jen Schweppe, who got the goal that broke the scoring ice for the Wildcats.

That goal ended a string of eight offensive penalty corners after Nelson's goal that failed to produce a score for the Wildcats.

Owen J. Roberts was a little more successful with penalty corners in the second half. The Wildcats converted on two of four in a four-minute span that began at the 16-minute, 50-second mark of the half.

Senior Elissa Cook made the first one off a pass from Rachel Schwab. The second came off the stick of Abby Batdorf, another senior.

"We were a little complacent," Jannelle of his team's start. "I told them to step up and put the pressure on."

East finished the season with a 14-4-1 mark. The loss halted the Cougars' five-game winning streak.

"That turf's a little faster than we're used to," East coach Stephanie Bullock said. "We made some changes, moving one of our forwards to more of a midfield position. That helped a little, but they transition very well."

Downingtown East   1 0 – 1

Owen J. Roberts   1 2 – 3

Goals: DE-Haley Nelson; OJR-Jen Schweppe, Elissa Cook, Abby Batdorf.

Saves: DE-Allie Murray 5; OJR: Shelby Miller 3.