By Christopher Shaban
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
NEWPORT — The Newport Tigers Field Hockey squad is off to a terrific start. After easily handling Hopkinton last week, they continued winning with a 6-0 victory over Stevens on Monday. Junior captain Katie Sharron seemed to be all over the field from her midfield position and was everywhere the ball was. “Boy this feels so good. I think we communicated really well and moved the ball to the wings and back inside the best we’ve done in a while,” said Sharron.
Just like in their first game last week, it was Maddy Norris who got the Tigers on the board quickly, as the 1-0 score stood into the second period. Sharron and Maddox Lovely gave the Tigers a comfortable 3-0 margin heading into the half, but the Cardinals seemed to be finding their legs. “We have three freshmen starting this year. We changed things a bit today and started to find more space as the game wore on, but give Newport credit, they were the better team today, but we will get better. We have a deep bench this season and this is a great learning game for us,” said Stevens Head Coach Patty Deschaine.
Stevens switched keepers to start the second half, and Sarah Wheeler was impressive, turning back multiple Tiger shots on net, but eventually the non-stop Tiger assault found results. Taylor Fellows blasted in a goal, then added a second one 30 seconds later as she pushed up-field for an unassisted tally. “”This was a big win against a team that has beaten us four times in a row including playoffs the last two years, we wanted this today,” said Fellows.
Newport controlled play for much of the game as play in the Cardinals defensive end was lopsided, with the Tigers seemingly playing downhill all day. “We are trying some new formations and we’ll keep adjusting as we go. The communication was great today and I told the team that it’s OK to yell,” said first year Tigers Head Coach Shannon Martin. Fellows would net her third goal of the game as the Cardinal defense led by Sara Farro was tired and worn out under a very hot sun. “We came to win today,” said Sharron.
Newport out shot Stevens 23-3 and had a 14-6 advantage in corners.
Newport(2-0) will host St. Thomas on Thursday while Stevens(0-1) will have a few days off before heading to Conant next Tuesday.
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