By Christopher Shaban
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
WINDSOR, Vt. — The #4 seed Windsor Yellow Jackets Field Hockey team will head to face #1 Montpelier on Tuesday after dominating #5 Stowe 2-0 on Thursday in Vermont quarter-final action.
Gianna Felice’s goal off a Windsor corner gave the young Jacks all the scoring they would need, as the defense of Blake Wardwell’s team was sensational. “It was now or never, we adjusted with so many people into different positions today and it all worked out,” said the first-year Windsor coach. Sickness, injuries, wisdom teeth surgery and jitters didn’t slow the Yellow Jackets down as they controlled play for the majority of the game.
Windsor’s lone senior Alexina” Zina” Peckingpaugh has played on championship teams before, but this year was different. “We have pushed through adversity all year, we lost so much from last year, yet we still found a way to keep going,” said Zina, sporting stitches on her chin from a recent game.
Windsor was by far the more aggressive team with runs on net and shots coming from all angles, including a blast from Gabby Gilbert, with shots on net from Hannah Tenney and Mackenzie Kleefish as the second period heavily favored Windsor in time of possession.
When Stowe’s speedster Gabby Dohla tried to break away from the pack, the Jacket midfielders were swarming. Mattie Tenney and Emma Saver were quick and tenacious which led to more time in the Stowe end of the field.
Windsor’s second goal started with a blast off the lumber of Kleefish that Stowe’s keeper made a save but fell to the ground with the loose ball near her. Gwen Ambrose slid into the goal area kept swatting at it and pulled the ball away from the keeper then fired it into the cage for a 2-0 lead. “I saw the ball just lying there but it was almost under the keeper, I just kept picking at it and when it came free, I slammed it home,” said the junior, as Windsor took a 2-0 lead into the break leading in corners 9-0 at the break.
Stowe came at Windsor in the second half, but Windsor’s keeper Sydney Perry was more than up to the challenge especially with Fern Day, Amber Simonds holding down the fort. Felice looked to ice the game, but her shot was wild right, but Windsor still had Stowe pinned deep with time ticking off the clock. With the sun setting on Stowe’s season, a mad rush to congratulate Perry from her teammates signaled another Windsor trip to a final four game with a 2-0 win.
“We kept our positioning and our strong corners really paid dividends today. This team has faced some really good teams this season and we just play as hard as we can,” said Felice.
Windsor would limit Stowe to a single corner while Perry made 6 saves on the day. Kleefish finished with both Windsor assists.
“We are confident being unconfident, we played hard today, and I think our conditioning really played a large role with many players getting little or no rest with a short bench,” said Wardwell.
Tuesday’s Division 3 Semifinal game is scheduled for 3:30 at Montpelier.
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