Palmyra’s Ella Longenecker had a high school field hockey senior night to remember.
She scored in the Cougars’ second to last home game of the season. She was assisted by senior Bri Eckenroth.
“I scored the first goal of the game in the first quarter,” Longenecker said after the game. “Bri passed me the ball across cage. I don’t really remember. I was on the post. I was doing my job.”
Palmyra won 2-0 against Bishop McDevitt. Palmyra is 11-3 on the season and play today against Boiling Springs. And, then the Cougars play Lower Dauphin on Monday. Bishop McDevitt is 8-8 and play Mifflin County on Monday and Central Dauphin East on Wednesday.
Bishop McDevitt was in the game for all 60 minutes. They held Palmyra to no goals in the second and third quarters. And, their speed proved to be a difficult challenge for Palmyra.
Senior Hadley Hoffsmith was among the players who helped the Cougars move the ball into the 25 yard line by using no-look passes. The Crusaders, however, stepped up from the backfield swiftly intercepting every other ball that was passed into scoring position.
Palmyra had eight penalty corners and took nine shots. It took a lot circle movement for them to score the second goal.
“I scored the second goal of the game in the fourth quarter,” Mallory Hudson said. “We got our first goal in the first quarter. Ella Longenecker scored that beautifully on the post. And then the rest of the game, we were just not able to finish in the circle. We had a lot of good entries into the circle. We just couldn’t finish up on the cage. I think our last quarter break, before the fourth quarter, we really focused on talking about just making sure we’re getting the right angle into the circle and then being there to finish it. We entered low on the baseline, crossed it, and I just tipped it in.”
Hudson, who recovered from a stress injury on her shin earlier in the season, said she’s happy to be back in the game. And, that during her time sidelined, she had a “birds-eye view” of watching her teammates.
“I think the beginning of the season, we were just getting used to one another,” Hudson said. “We lost a lot of seniors. but we’re really, like, connecting now a lot more with our communication and just connecting our passes. I think, we’ve also been moving around people in different positions, which is helping, too, to keep the other team guessing. We’re still able to connect and score.”
Palmyra head coach Kent Harshman said they’re still working on timing and efficient passing.
“We controlled a lot of the play between the 25 yard lines because of our skill, but we are having trouble when we get inside the 25 yard line scoring,” Harshman said. “And, that’s a problem. Hats off to [Bishop McDevitt]. They played good defense, there’s no doubt about it. Their goalkeeper is amazing. We know all of that. But, we’ve got to figure a way to score when we get the ball in the circle that many times and have that many opportunities. We can’t afford to let them get away from us.”
He continued: “Our kids are relentless. Execution might not always be there, but our effort is always there. What we’re going to try to do is refine some of that in the post-season.”
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Staff Photo: Palmyra’s Mallory Hudson, Bob Benscoter, 2024
