Chatham High School field hockey (10-4-1) used a combined five-goal performance from sophomore Molly Chazen (three) and senior Allie McCaffrey (two) to blow by Morristown, 9-0, in the first round of the Morris County Tournament Saturday at Haas Field.
But that was only part of the story. With offensive pressure applied all game long, Cougar head coach Kaitlin Leyden said it was an overall team effort that led to a terrific, dominate showing against the Colonials (4-11-1).
“I thought our team played great”, Leyden said. “We’ve been working really hard on making sure that we’re passing, that we’re transitioning the ball, and that we’re taking our shots. And I thought that they excelled, and really perfected that from start to finish. So that was really impressive.
“It was a whole team effort, honestly,” she added. “The forwards and defense were pressing. I thought, all around, we didn’t allow them to go into our circle, for the most part, so it has to be a whole team effort.”
McCaffrey opened up the game’s scoring, 1-0, with 7:13 reaming in the first quarter. Chazen followed with a marker of her own that increased Chatham’s advantage to 2-0 with 2:42 to go in the first period.
But two tallies by Chazen, and one each from McCaffrey and sophomore Ava Ewing swelled the Cougars’ lead to 6-0 at the half.
Senior Emily Borowicz, who registered her first goal of her high school career, added to the offensive onslaught to run the score to 7-0 with 9:47 left in the third quarter.
Freshman Marissa Symon contributed a goal to give Chatham a commanding 8-0 advantage with 5:46 to go in the third period.
Senior Ava Cantillion capped the Cougars’ scoring barrage with a tally with less than a minute left in the game.
Chazen (3, 1) paced all players with seven points, while McCaffrey recorded six (2, 2), and Ewing (1, 1), Symon (1, 1), and Cantillion (1, 1) had three points apiece for Chatham.
The Cougars will face Hackettstown Monday at 4:00 p.m. and will square off against Pequannock Wednesday in the MCT’s quarterfinal round at a TBA time.
— Jerry Del Priore
NY NJ Sports World/Brooklyn Sports World 