Greenwich’s Cabrera stellar, but field hockey falls to Rams

Written by Dave Stewart
Thursday, 05 November 2009 00:00

Brooke Cabrera, the Greenwich field hockey team’s standout senior goalie, tried to keep the outlook as positive as possible following the Cardinals exit from the FCIAC tournament.

“The FCIACs is over and we’re just going to focus on the first round of the States,” Cabrera said. “This game is in the past and we’re not looking back. We’re all playing together, we’re moving forward and we’re looking forward to States.”

Cabrera delivered another outstanding performance, but New Canaan’s offense was too persistent, too relentless and eventually proved too much for Greenwich as the Rams slipped away with a 2-1 victory in the FCIAC semifinals Tuesday night at Dunning Field.

Caroline Falcone nailed in the game-winning goal after a save by Cabrera with 1:10 remaining in regulation.

New Canaan (14-1-2), the No. 2 seed, will face No. 1 Darien (15-0-0) for the conference championship Thursday night in New Canaan, while Greenwich (11-4-0) returns home to await the start of the State Class L tournament.

Greenwich was outshot 12-2 and outcornered 16-2 by New Canaan, but stayed in front much of the way thanks to the play of Cabrera (10 saves), backs Sarah Jarombeck, Julie Esposito and Meg Williamson and midfielder Sarah Kramer.

“It was a well-fought battle,” Greenwich Head Coach Allie Orrico said. “We knew it was going to be a battle and it basically played out exactly the way we expected it to. The team that was more aggressive, the team that put more pressure on the ball was going to come out on top. That’s exactly what New Canaan did and you’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They played a phenomenal game and they just beat us to the ball.”

As was the case in their regular season meeting, New Canaan had the better of play in terms of possession and scoring opportunities, but when the horn sounded at the end of the first half, the Cardinals held a 1-0 lead.

Sophomore Claire Feeney started the scoring sequence when she sent a pass from the right side in to Storm Kodde. Kodde sent a cross to Olivia Tapsall, who sent a high shot past New Canaan goalie Amanda Milunovich (1 save) with 15:06 remaining in the first half.

The rest of the half was a series of opportunities for the Rams, who rotated a number of different forwards through in different combinations. Seniors Maggie Burke, Leah Taben and midfielder Betsy Hart were in the middle of much of the action, with Falcone, Austin Ready and Anjalie Christie also in on the pressure.

At halftime, New Canaan Head Coach Erin Gildea delivered a calm message to her team.

“Just stay aggressive, keep moving, we knew we had to move her, and not to settle for the kind of shots that were right at (Cabrera’s) pads,” Gildea said. “We wanted to pass more and work on quality shots, get in front of the Greenwich players and keep the ball up there. Last time, we allowed a lot of back-and-forth and we did a better job of keeping the pressure up the entire time.”

Cabrera and the Greenwich D survived a series of four penalty corners early in the second half, but New Canaan finally scored the equalizer with 14:20 remaining.

Burke carried the ball through the middle of the Cardinals’ half and into the circle. Taben then picked off the ball after a deflection and sent a pass up to Ready, who got behind Cabrera and hit the back of the cage.

Greenwich made a little push as the clock ticked down past the 10-minute mark, but were turned back as the Rams regained control.

With overtime looming, Hart sent a pass to Falcone who had a first shot kick saved by Cabrera, who came out high for the stop. Cabrera got the ball again and sent it inside the right post for the winning goal.

“The goalie was out pretty far and I think she was down,” Falcone said. “The ball just got by her and there were a couple of their girls by the goal, but I was able to get it.

“It felt great to get that goal in a big game.”

“Our backs weren’t going up to pressure the ball and I was going out too far,” Cabrera said. “I should have stayed home. Both goals that were scored were as a result of me pressuring the ball too high.”

Orrico said Cabrera’s efforts were great, but the Cardinals needed a more complete performance from the team.

“She’s played awesome for us all year long, but there’s 11 people out there and it’s got to be 11 people playing together for 60 minutes to win a game,” Orrico said. “It’s a good learning experience for our team. These girls are real competitors and it’s disheartening because they’ve worked so very hard and they had a great last week of practice. This stings.”