Blair field hockey falls short to Magruder

BLAZER STADIUM, Sept. 15—

The varsity field hockey team (0-3) put up a good fight against Magruder (1-2) on Thursday night, with Blair scoring its first goal of the season against a competitive team. However, Blair's solid effort would not be enough – the Blazers fell 2-1 in the end.

Junior forward Zoe McCarthy scored seven minutes into the game, marking the team's first goal of the season. Magruder and Blair traded possession for the first part of the game. In the last 15 minutes of the first half, the Blazers lost steam, which allowed Magruder to score two goals. "For ten minutes during the first half we dropped down, and that's when they scored their goals,” senior co-captain Molly Flannagan said.

The Blazers held off the Colonels for the second half, thanks to Flannagan's saves in the goal and no more goals scored by either team. Despite the outcome of the game, head coach Christine Denny is happy with the way her team played. "They beat us by four last year so I honestly expected a harder game,” she said."It was a significantly stronger game than any of our other games. We were an offensive presence."

According to senior co-captain Hadley Luker, Magruder was aggressive and skilled at passing, but showed weakness in other areas. "They had lots of obstructions,” she said.

The Blazers came into the game hoping to use the skills they had worked on during practice, according to Flannagan. "We wanted to win and we knew that if we did everything we practiced we would, but I guess we didn't,” she said. But the varsity y team will try to improve as the season moves forward. "We're going to work on passing and shooting, and making sure our passes are clean,” Flannagan said.

Varsity field hockey plays its next home game on Sept. 21 against Richard Montogmery.