Lady Indians fall to Tower Hill

By John Denny
Staff Reporter

“You have to credit Tower Hill. They played like a low Division III college team,” said McKean, who coached college hockey at Frostburg and Salisbury University. “They passed well, didn’t crowd the circle and played patient defense. It was also amazing to see how quiet they were. They were so familiar with each other that they didn’t need to make calls to move the ball.”

Tower Hill field hockey is the Mount Everest of the sport at the Delaware high school level. The team’s 17 state championships in 20 years is a nice tally and Indian River got a good taste of just how good the best play in their 5-0 first-round state tournament loss on Nov. 9.

Indian River fell into a quick hole after Tower Hill laced two goals past senior goalie Kathryn Riley, which prompted McKean to replace her with sophomore Abi Buchler.

Buchler gave up three goals herself but McKean was encouraged by her athletic play in the net against some of the state’s best scorers.

“Abi did a great job in there against an excellent team, despite only playing against varsity a couple times this season” said McKean. “The first two goals were hard shots to stop. She initially stopped a three-on-one breakaway but their sweeper made a nice extension from the left side to put the ball in the right-top corner.”

Though this was Buchler’s first year playing field hockey, McKean noted how well she has adapted to the game since the summer, saying that she has a promising future in the sport.

“Abi has great speed, but if a player has never played the sport then it’s easy to mold them. Kathryn (Riley) has played the position for so long that it was hard to get her to change certain things but she has been a big boost helping Abi learn the position,” said McKean. “Abi has been like a puppy, soaking up everything and getting experience against a well-groomed team like Tower Hill will make her better.”

Tower Hill put so much pressure on the goal that Indian River’s midfielders were unable to help on the offensive end, which resulted in only one shot on goal.

“We struggled on offense despite bringing the ball up well,” said McKean. “We had a couple opportunities. But when Tower Hill attacked, it drew our midfielders back and we didn’t have that extra punch.”

With so much action around Indian River’s goal, McKean was pleased with Kaitlyn Binsted and Molly Benner’s ability to hold their own. And, though it was a disappointing loss, there is a silver lining.

“Some of the girls were a little emotional, but I told them not to cry because they got an extra game in against one of the best teams and had fun,” said McKean. “This wasn’t some regular season in-conference game; it was against a very classy team.”

The Lady Indians finished the season with a 10-6-1 record.