Wood sees progress in loss

Tara Martin remembers last year's Philadelphia Catholic League field hockey championship game quite well, and it isn't such a pleasant memory for her.

The Archbishop Wood forward didn't get to play much offense that day as Archbishop Carroll steamrolled to the league title.

“Last year, we got in our (offensive) circle once in the championship game,” Martin recalled. “We were just hanging on.”

Defending champion Carroll is probably the team to beat in the PCL again this year, and, despite Wood's 4-1 loss to the visiting Patriots on Friday, the Vikings believe they have significantly narrowed the gap between the teams.

“Compared to the championship game last year (a 4-0 Carroll win), this was so much better,” Martin said. “There are obviously some things we need to work on. Free hits, we need to work on, but we just played like such a team together. I'm really proud of that.”

The Vikings trailed by a goal at halftime, but tied the score on a Jenn White goal just over five minutes into the second half. Carroll regained the lead for good just 51 seconds later, but Wood held its own for most of the game, threatening with six second-half shots.

“Compared to our championship game last year, we improved a lot,” Wood defender Jillian Carroll said. “We've totally changed our offense. Little things just held us back in the game.

“We've definitely narrowed the gap. The score doesn't show it, but the ball was down in our (attacking) end plenty of times. There are just little things we have to revamp that will get us more goals.

“We can hang with them speed-wise — maybe not skill-wise, but if we can revamp the way we play a little bit, we can definitely hang with them if we see them again (in the playoffs).”

Carroll, to be fair, was a little better than Wood in every phase of the game Friday, but Vikings midfielder Tara Brown said her team still gained confidence by putting up a decent fight.

“Our expectations coming into this game, some of us were scared that we were going to get crushed like in the championship game, but half of us thought that it was going to be an even game,” Brown said. “We know what we have to work on against them now, so I just think we'd play better if we got to play them again.”

Wood first-year coach Lauren Luft said the loss wasn't that disappointing because the Vikings' problems all appeared to be fixable.

“We're finding our weakness and we'll work on them,” Luft said. “They didn't outplay us; they just got more (scoring) opportunities.

“The girls are great. They really listen and they work hard. That's all I need — a team that will work hard to win — and I have that.”

Archbishop Carroll 4, Archbishop Wood 1

Carroll 1 3-4

Wood 0 1-1

First-half goal: Kim Zamojcin (AC) from Rachel Walsh, 17:12.

Second-half goals: Jenn White (AW) unassisted, 5:05; Nicole Goff (AC) unassisted, 5:56; Zamojcin (AW) from Kelsey Byrne, 11:27; Zamojcin (AW) from Megan Corliss, 28:59.

Shots: Carroll 15, Wood 7. Saves: Moriah McMorran (AC) 4; Sam Arnold (AW) 10.

Records: Carroll (8-2-1, 5-0 PCL); Wood (4-3, 3-2 PCL).