West Hartford’s Hall and Conard field hockey team met Monday night.

By Paul Palmer. Photos by Paul Palmer and Craig Rosenberg

Behind goals from Claire Sweeney, Ashley Carlson, and Ellie Goldstein, and a stout defense anchored by goalie Hannah Schoen, the Hall Titans won the CCC Conference North Field Hockey Championship by blanking Conard 3-0 Monday night.

“Our defense was solid all night,” said Hall coach Jenna Behan. “We only allowed three or four shots on cage all game.”

Sophomore Sophia LaPorta, and seniors Elise Biondi, and Molly McHugh were steady, all shutting down the Red Wolves’ attacks and getting the ball moving back up field on offense. Both sides cam in undefeated in conference play, with Hall carrying an 11-5 overall mark, while Conard was 10-5-1.

The Red Wolves are in something of a rebuilding year, but the combination of veteran leadership and determination had them in line for a title. “We have grown leaps and bounds this year,” Sara Witmer, Conard’s head coach said of her team. “We graduated a lot of starters and were building from scratch.”

On a cold, wet night, the two sides played a scoreless first period on the Hall turf. At 5:45 of the second the Titans struck first off a corner. The ball was played to Goldstein who squared to Grace Ganey and she found Carlson in front for the goal.

Just two minutes later, it was Sweeney’s turn as she found the back of the cage and Hall had the 2-0 lead.

Possession in the first half was nearly even, but Hall got the better of the opportunities and converted. Carlson told her teammates at the half that “we wanted it more in that second period.”

As the second half opened, Conard made good use of the wings with Claire Goglia and Grace Piccioli making strong runs with the ball, and Freja Morris working hard in midfield. The Hall lead could have increased but for the play of Conard goalie Lilly Grosse. In the third she was especially strong and made a big kick save with 4:30 to play in the quarter.

It wasn’t until 11:02 of the third that the Titans added to their lead. Hall’s leading scorer Goldstein blistered a shot to the right side of Grosse off a failed clear in the defensive zone. For Goldstein – aka “Goal-stein” – it was her 28th goal in the year and 126th for the program for the Maryland-bound senior.

As the final 15 minutes played out in the fourth, Grosse made several very good saves, in particular a combination of a blocker save, followed by a kick save to thwart Hall’s offense. As the clock struck zero, the Hall players raced toward their goal and broke out in celebration of the win, the title, and a 12th win of the season. “We have worked a lot on passing and making connections and being in the right place to finish,” said Behan.

She added that over the course of the season she has seen her team learn to roll with the punches of the game. “Sometimes we’d panic when we got down, but we talked a lot about just staying composed,” the Hall coach said.

For Conard, the secret to success, according to Witmer has been having an all-inclusive program that starts when players are just freshmen. “The seniors go to everyone when they come into the program and they talk with everyone. They are real leaders,” said Conard’s coach. She also credits much of the success this season to the players learning to be mentally tough no matter the situation and be ready to take chances. “We want them to have the confidence to make mistakes, because without that you can’t grow.”

Both teams can now focus on the upcoming Class L state tournament. Seeds and opening round matchups will be released on Friday. To qualify, a team must have played 19 varsity games and have won 40% of its approved scheduled games played – something both programs easily did this year. Right now, just 16 teams have earned a spot with the winning percentage needed.

Any qualifying games will be played at the higher seed on Monday, Nov. 6 followed by first round games on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at the home of the higher seed.

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