PHILADELPHIA – The Cardinal O’Hara Lions faced off against the St. Hubert’s Bambies away from home this past Wednesday. O’Hara is certainly a strong contender to defend their title this year, with 9 of 11 starters returning from last year's championship team.
Hubert’s Field Hockey has made much improvement under the instruction of head coach Theresa Gorman. Still, Gorman was upfront about the challenges her team faced taking on one the top contenders in the league.
“Usually, in years past, it’ll take O’Hara maybe 10-15 minutes to warm up to the grass, and that’s always good for us because were able to get some things accomplished, and that’s how we set our goals, in terms of that. But it didn’t take them any time at all this year. Hats off to them,” said Gorman.
St. Hubert's vs. Cardinal O'Hara (19 Photos)
“We knew they were a tough team but we felt we came here prepared. So even though we play on turf, we can practice on grass, so we felt like we were as prepared as we could be… Grass is always a different game, and so we felt confident that we were ready to come in here,” said O' Hara head coach Marie Murphy.
O’Hara scored 6 times in the first half. Those goals were led by top scorer senior forward Hannah Nihill ( Drexel commit basketball), with 3, senior teammates Annemarie Banes scored one, Sara Hayes (St. Joseph's University commit), made the back of the net and Meghan Shallow (Catholic University commit), also scored a goal. Nihill would go on to score again in the second along with senior teammate Kelly O'Hare. Hubert’s managed to score one late in the game by senior midfielder Kasey Hawe. O’Hara would take the 8-1 victory.
O'Hara senior captain, Makayla Gallen - PSD Photo
“Our biggest strength is how we work together. We trust our defense to get it out and our forwards to get it in. But for the upcoming games, we take it one game at a time,” said O'Hara senior captain and University of Virginia commit Makayla Gallen.
With PCL playoffs looming around the corner, O’Hara’s next few games will really define their season.
“So far (this season), so good. We feel really good about it. We have a really big two weeks coming up for us,” said coach Murphy.
“Currently in our league, Carroll and us are tied, so that’s always going to be a big game to kind of see where things kind of end up. We also have Wood. We know they’re also a tough game so, we’re really confident and optimistic. We know we can’t get cocky.”
The Bambies are .500 right now and looking to make it to the playoffs.
“Going forward, we are a long way from last year. We are 3-3 at this point in the season, at this point last year we hadn’t even won a game,” said Gorman. “So, we just want to keep it week to week, try to finish with a winning record, and then hopefully make a good run in quarterfinals. I’d like to see us in quarterfinals. I think that would be a good comeback to a season with no wins.”
Looking Ahead: St. Hubert’s next league match-up will be on Wednesday, Oct. 12th vs. Archbishop Ryan. O’Hara’s next PCL game is also on Oct. 12th vs. Conwell-Egan.