Girls get win over Palisades
The Northampton field hockey team split their first two games of the 2022 season, rebounding for a 5-1 win against Palisades on Saturday after having dropped their opener to Parkland 3-2 the day before.
The Kids wasted little time in seizing the advantage as Kendall Iasiello found the cage just 2:04 into the contest. Erin Dumbach assisted on the goal which came on a Northampton corner.
Raegen Iasiello put the K-Kids up by two when she knocked home a Brooke Saul assist at 8:50 of the first quarter.
Palisades did not register a shot in the first period, but they took advantage of their first corner of the game in the second period when Camila O’Donnell scored at the 11:31 mark.
Kendall Iasiello answered at 9:02 to give the Kids the 3-1 margin that they would take into halftime. Ryley Colburn assisted on the goal.
Ella Steirer added an unassisted goal seven minutes into the third quarter. Kendall Iasiello completed her hat trick by scoring during an untimed corner at the end of the period. Steirer picked up the assist.
Kadee Schrader recorded 9 saves. Northampton outshot Palisades 18-10 and had the advantage in corners 13 to 5.
Head coach Carrie Saul gave her impressions of the game.
“After less than a 24-hour turnaround, we were able to play together,” she said. “We worked the ball nicely up the field. We utilized our right-side offense and our defense played well at distributing the ball today. We’re able to move quickly and transition to offense much better than last year.”
While the Parkland game was a loss, it was evenly played. The score was 2-2 at the half and Northampton outshot the Trojans 12-9. The Kids’ goal scorers were Saul and Colburn. Mya Keppel picked up an assist.
The week ahead sees the K-Kids host Bethlehem Catholic on Thursday. The Golden Hawks are 0-1 on the season after losing to Emmaus this past Tuesday. The team then travels to Stroudsburg to face the consistently strong Lady Mounties.
Fun fact: although Emmaus has won the last 33 District XI 3A field hockey titles, they have not won every EPC league title. Stroudsburg was the EPC champion for the 2014-2015 school year.