H.S. FIELD HOCKEY: Line Mountain Wins Battle Of Unbeatens

MANDATA - Line Mountain field hockey coach Heather Kieffer wasn't exactly sure how long it's been since the Eagles beat Greenwood. She just knew it was a long time.

So did her players, who gathered for a team photo holding a sign which read, plainly, "Finally," after the Eagles scored two second- half goals to down the Wildcats 2-0 in a Tri-Valley League battle for first place Tuesday.

Since 2008, though, the Wildcats had a 12-0-1 advantage, including a state playoff win in 2012. The tie game was last year.

Chloe Poltonavage broke a scoreless tie with a goal on a penalty stroke with 18:05 remaining, and Natalie Scheib scored an insurance goal with 2:22 remaining to put the Eagles (7-0 overall, 3-0 TVL) in sole possession of first place over the Wildcats (4-1-1, 4-1).

"It's a product of these girls putting in a lot of hard work during the preseason," Kieffer said. "The girls have done a lot of mental preparation. They know what part of the game they can control and what parts they can't."

The Eagles controlled play in the first half for the

most part, with eight shots and 10 penalty corners, but couldn't get a shot past Greenwood's goalie. Then, early in the second half, the tables were turned a little. Greenwood put lots of pressure on Line Mountain goalie Katelyn Campbell in the first 10 minutes of the half, but most of the shots got lost in a sea of legs and sticks near the goal.

Line Mountain appeared to score a clean goal with just over 18 minutes remaining, but the goal was waved off. However, the Eagles were awarded a penalty stroke, and Poltonavage put the ball in for the lead.

Kieffer said she wasn't sure what the call was that resulted in the penalty stroke.

"All I saw was a bunch of legs and sticks, so I'm not really sure what happened on that," Kieffer said.

What she was sure about was that Poltonavage would take the shot.

"We've had other girls practice penalty strokes but when you have a girl come up to you, look you in the eye and say, 'I can do it', you let her shoot," Kieffer said.

That lead stood for about 15 minutes, but only because Campbell made a great kick save on a Greenwood shot with 3:55 left.

"Katie doesn't always see a lot of action, and she doesn't complain," Kieffer said. "But when she does, she's always there."

Then, Scheib scored with an assist from Blair-Anne Klinger for the insurance goal.

The Eagles also overcame a knee injury to Kaela Laudenslager, who took a hard stick off her left kneecap in the second half.

"We didn't really create shots out of pressure, and that's really been our problem all year," said Greenwood coach Kent Houser. "We can't score from the field. We can't even get, really, quality shots from the field. We do a decent job defensively but, if we don't score off our corner game, we're in trouble."

"This validates what our coaching staff has been telling the girls," Kieffer said. "We have a talented group of hockey players."

Greenwood (4-1-1) 0 0 - 0

Line Mtn. (7-0) 0 2 - 2

LM - Chloe Poltonavage, penalty stroke, 18:05 2nd

LM - Natalie Scheib (Blair-Ann Klinger), 2:22 2nd

Shots - Greenwood 5, Line Mountain 12. Penalty corners - Greenwood 7, Line Mountain 13. Saves - Greenwood 4, Line Moutnain (Katelyn Campbell) 2.