Joel Barlow’s Molly Healey and Avon’s Oliva Jackson battle for the ball in Tuesday night’s Class M semifinal in Watertown. Barlow won, 4-1
WATERTOWN, Nov. 17 – They played hard and did their best. But the No. 4 Avon High field hockey team was overwhelmed by top-seeded Joel Barlow-Redding Tuesday evening in the Class M semifinal at Watertown High.
Barlow scored four times off penalty corner opportunities in a dominating 4-1 victory over Avon to earn their first-ever berth into a CIAC field hockey championship game. Barlow will face No. 7 New Canaan (16-4-1) on Saturday at Wethersfield High in the final at a time to be announced.
Avon (14-3-0-1) had just one shot on net – it went in – while Barlow held a whopping 14-2 edge in penalty corners. Much of the game was in the Avon side of the field. Falcon goalie Emily Foley had 11 saves.
“Joel Barlow is a very good team, a great passing team,” Avon High coach Terri Ziemnicki said. “You can tell they’ve played together before.”
Avon’s Hannah Deppe scored her team-leading 10th goal Tuesday in a 4-1 loss to Joel Barlow.
Several of the Barlow players have been playing field hockey together since they were in the fourth grade. Six of Barlow’s 11 starters are seniors.
“Sure, it’s disappointing to lose but I’m not disappointed in our effort and not disappointed in our team,” Ziemnicki said. “They came to play and lost to a better team today.”
Avon has just three seniors on its roster and returned just four starters from last year’s team also went to the Class L semifinals. After dropping a 4-0 decision to Glastonbury in their season-opening contest, the Falcons ripped off 12 consecutive wins before stumbling in its final two games, –a 2-1 loss to Conard and a 1-0 loss to Farmington.
“We came a long way,” Ziemnicki said. “With only three seniors, we get to the semifinals.”
It was the fourth straight year in the semifinals for Avon and the fifth time in the last six years. Avon hasn’t advanced to the championship game since 1998.
Libby Tower scored with just 2:50 gone in the game to give Barlow an early lead. Barlow extended that lead when Elisa Taylor-Yeremeva scored after some nice passing in the scoring circle. He was wide open at the corner post and tapped it in for a 2-0 lead.
A wide open Kailey Lauter extended the lead to 3-0 with 21:35 remaining and Tower ripped a high shot about nine feet high that sailed into the upper corner of the net with 19:13 remaining for a 4-0 lead.
Avon got on the scoreboard with 11:29 left in the game. Hannah Deppe scored from the top of the scoring circle off a penalty corner situation. Olivia Jackson passed the ball to Deppe, who received it at the 20-yard line. She dribbled in five yards, eluded one defender and blasted in a shot from 15 yards away for the goal.
“We work very hard on transition drills, switching fields and switching the ball,” Barlow coach Connie Chapin said. Barlow has shutout 12 opponents this including two in the Class M tournament.
You can see the first two Joel Barlow goals in the video below, courtesy of Reel Sports Productions.
Joel Barlow’s Elisa Taylor-Yeremeeva races up field in Tuesday night’s Class M semifinal in Watertown.
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