Sports
Sayville Field Hockey Makes History With School's First Undefeated Season
15-0 Golden Flashes should earn a top seed moving into playoffs.
Sayville field hockey made history Wednesday afternoon at Sayville High School. The varsity squad secured the first undefeated season in school history, moving to 15-0 as they defeated West Babylon (2-14) 5-3.
The Heroes: Senior forward Alexandra Russell scored a goal and an assist in the game. Barely a minute had passed in the game before Russell took a feed from senior defender Andrea DeVenuto in the offensive zone and put it into the net.
Just a few minutes later it was senior forward Kirstin Knopf who came through following a Sayville penalty corner. The ball was centered and Russell managed to slip the pass in to Knopf who put it into the back of the net for the score.
Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Sayville stayed hot on offense and took advantage of another penalty corner. This time Olivia Cabral dribbled the ball in front of the net and flicked it passed the goalie for an unassisted goal.
Junior forwards Lindsay Carbone and Breana Lindquist also scored goals for Sayville.
Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Turning Point: Sayville came out strong, building up a 3-1 lead. However, they struggled to keep possession in the latter part of the first half, allowing West Babylon to score a goal and stay in the game. Carbone put an end to that as she scored on an assist from junior forward Allyson Marchan to get back the three-goal lead.
Quotable: "They exceeded my expectations," said Sayville head coach Patti Fedelem. "They just pulled together. They're such a nice group to coach and work with. They practice hard. They play tough. They're tenacious and just great girls."
The Bottom Line: Sayville proved their toughness once again as they put up early points, and then adapted after struggling to put the game away with their two second-half goals.
Key Stats: Wednesday's game was senior day and Fedelman worked all of her players into the game, giving all of her seniors a chance to enjoy the game from the sidelines halfway through the second half.
Sayville showed the ability to take advantage of their opponent's mistakes with two of the team's five goals coming off of penalty corners.
