Recap and photos by Al Wright
On Aug. 31, the varsity Chelsea Field Hockey team hit the road again, this time traveling to Cranbrook-Kingswood in Bloomfield Hills.
On a very warm afternoon, Chelsea played hard and the defense stood tall keeping the game scoreless until at about the 20-minute mark when Teddi Reynolds received the ball on a beautiful pass from Jessi Olmsted and shot the ball on the right side of the goal to put Chelsea up 1-0.
That would be the only goal needed as the Bulldogs defense clamped down the rest of the way allowing Chelsea to edge out a big 1-0 win. The new players on the team stepped up big when needed.
“The team has been working diligently to incorporate this year’s new team members in to all lines of the formation.” said head coach Leslie Fry. “We are all adjusting to Meghan Cole being sidelined this season due to recovering from knee surgery. We are still in the process of finding the right replacement for her center mid leadership.”
The Bulldogs finished with 9 penalty corners and 10 shots on goal.
Chelsea 4, Livonia Ladywood 1
On Wednesday, Sept. 2, they again hit the road for their 5th away game in a row, this time to Livonia Ladywood at the Michael Polsinelli Athletic Complex. The temperature at game time with the real feel was in the mid 90’s. But that didn’t stop Coach Leslie Fry from having her players pumped and ready to compete.
The heat seemed to lag both teams down as neither dominated the play right away, until almost 6 minutes in when leading goal scorer Maggie Cole blasted a hard drive right into the Blazers’ goal. This did not deter the Blazers as they scored only minutes later to tie it up.
It was a very defensive battle until about the 24-minute mark when Senior Jessi Olmsted hit the ball up and Teddi Reynolds slammed it in to put the bulldogs up 2-1. That was what it would be at the half when both teams got a very much deserved break. Coach Fry went over her strategy with her players and after a bit of hydration they got right back out there and went to work.
In the second half it was all Bulldogs. The passes were crisper, the defense made great plays and great stops, and the play was almost down in the Blazers end for the whole half.
At the 11:26 mark it was Olmsted again, who got to take a penalty stroke. She lined up her shot, got down in a perfect stroke form for an excellent shot that blasted by the Blazer goalie and went top shelf to put Chelsea up 3-1.
But the Bulldogs weren’t done yet, at about the 23-minute mark it was Cole again with a hard drive and her second goal of the game on a sweet set up by Olmsted to lead Chelsea to a 4-1 final victory. The Bulldogs defense was relentless as they held the Blazers to only 2 shots the whole game.
Chelsea finished with 14 shots on goal and had 13 penalty corners.
“The team is developing their game nicely,” Fry said. “This game saw three of our shooters scoring, including a dramatic penalty stroke by Jessi Olmsted.”
The Bulldogs are 4-1 on the season and are off until Thursday when they travel to rival Dexter for a 7 p.m. night game.
