Field Hockey Falls to Brookline 4-2

By Ben Kiritsy
Sports Reporter

This past Saturday, the Newton South field hockey lost 4-2 to Brookline, a tough competitor, despite strong play from senior leadership.

Brookline came out strong scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the game.
The Lions also played great offense in the first half thanks to seniors Hailey Friedman and Ruslan Crosby, as well as others.

“We needed to work on our positioning because we weren’t expecting them to be that good, and talking more on defense,” explained senior captain Ava Morollo.

Towards the end of the first half, South was able to capitalize on a breakdown at midfield and dish the ball out to senior Allie Arruda, who then played the ball in from the right side where senior Julia Estrin was able finish, making the score 2-1 and bringing South back in the game.

In the first thirty minutes of the second half, South played tenacious defense thanks to senior Maria Hastings. In particular, midfielder junior forward Kerry Yeng played aggressively and had multiple steals to start the Lions’ offensive attacks.

Finally in the twenty-fourth minute, South was able to score off a pass from Yang to Arruda to equalize the game at 2-2.

For almost the entire second half South’s defensive line, which consisted of seniors Jenny Pushner, Kara Medoff, and captain Ava Morollo who were able to hold off Brookline’s constant pressure.

During the fourteenth minute the Warriors made the score 3-2. Brookline added one more at the end of the game to make the final score 4-2.

The Lions defense was forced to change their game scheme around the Warriors’ star offensive player.

“They [Brookline] had this one player, number eight, who was amazing and forced us to adjust a lot to keep up with her,” said Morollo.

South looks to rebound at Ursuline Academy and Framingham at home this week.