By Adam Aucoin
THE RUTLAND HERALD
RUTLAND, Vt. — For a team as dominant as the Bellows Falls Field Hockey team, it can be hard to nitpick things that need work.
One thing the Terriers are trying to improve upon is coming out of the gate with the energy and level of play needed to maintain their form.
Bellows Falls didn’t run into that issue Friday afternoon against Rutland, grabbing an early lead and pulling away for a 6-0 win.
“We have a really hard time getting off the bus sometimes,” said Terriers’ coach Bethany Coursen. “For whatever reason, we can’t seem to get it going right quick and we’ve tried to change that. Today, we were successful with that.
“The field is very similar to ours at home, so there wasn’t the adjustment of grass. It was nice to know that they could get going.”
Bellows Falls got going really quick with Sadie Scott scoring on a penalty corner play, set up by senior Jules McDermid just more than a minute into play. It was the same duo hooking up for the second BF goal about a minute later.
It was a big day for Scott, who found the back of the cage four times.
“It takes a team to help feed it to her and she’s very good at passing to other players. If she has a shot, she’s going to take a hard shot,” Coursen said. “The whole forward line works well in that they’re happy for the assist and the score.”
McDermid had the third Terriers goal in the first quarter and the other non-Scott goal came from sophomore Emma Bazin, who scored off an assist by Ava LaRoss in the fourth quarter.
While the score doesn’t show it, Rutland did do a solid job of keeping Bellows Falls in check for long stretches.
RHS held the Terriers scoreless in the second quarter and got a great pad save on the far post by goalie Emma Cosgrove late in the half that took away a perfect scoring chance for BF.
Cosgrove made 11 saves, keeping Rutland afloat.
With BF getting a heavy load of penalty corners in the second half, RHS defended well. Rutland coach Kayla Ploof lauded the effort of Cosgrove, Lauren Solimano and Zoey Urich.
Scoring remains a bugaboo for RHS. Friday was the third straight game they were shutout and they’ve only found the back of the cage five times this season.
“We’re just trying to light that fire a little bit and finish in the net,” Ploof said. “Each game, we’re getting closer. We’re knocking on the door.”
Bellows Falls (5-0-1) has its sights on an eighth straight trip to a state championship game. Outscoring opponents 32-1, the Terriers are doing pretty well in attaining that goal, but there won’t be many easy wins the rest of the way.
Bellows Falls is on the road at a strong D-II Otter Valley team on Tuesday and has matchups with Burr and Burton Academy, Woodstock and a rematch of its lone tie with Hartford left on the schedule.
Rutland (0-7-1) is at Springfield on Monday as both RHS and the Cosmos look to notch their first win.
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