On September 19, the Morgan girls field hockey team won against North Branford for the first time, in a 1-0 overtime away game that shocked the Morgan sports community.
“We were just gonna try to just get the score to be 0-0 the whole time, and not let them score,” recounted freshman Lucia Acampora. Little did they know how important that would be. The girls went into the game with a defensive mindset, as the North Branford field hockey team is hard to beat. They have won shorelines for the past seven years, making them more dominant on the shoreline. They also have a very successful coach, Babby Nuhn, who has six championship wins under her belt. Many point to North Branford’s program for little kids as their key to their success over the past several years. Many of their players have been playing together their entire lives. “Knowing that we beat a team that has been playing so much longer, and who has a coach that has been coaching for over 50 years, it just makes us feel so good that we can be a team like them,” said junior Molly O’Donnell.
According to senior Whitney Trebuig, North Branford seemed to underestimate the Huskies, but the girls worked all the way to overtime. “We think that North Branford was expecting us to be an easy team to beat like we always have been, but this year we’ve been working together in the offseason and building up our skills and our bond as a team. And in the game, we were able to keep the ball out of the circle. They had a lot of offensive corners on us, but the defense worked hard together to keep the ball out of the circle, and our offense was working hard to get the ball up the field, and it was just a really equal game going back and forth between the two teams. Then, once we reached overtime, things changed,” According to O’Donnell, going into overtime alone felt like a win as they only had two games go into overtime.
According to senior Whittney Trebuig, North Branford seemed to underestimate the Huskies, but the girls worked all the way to overtime. “We think that North Branford was expecting us to be an easy team to beat like we always have been, but this year we’ve been working together in the offseason and building up our skills and our bond as a team. And in the game, we were able to keep the ball out of the circle. They had a lot of offensive corners on us, but the defense worked hard together to keep the ball out of the circle, and our offense was working hard to get the ball up the field, and it was just a really equal game going back and forth between the two teams. Then, once we reached over time, things changed,”
“We were screaming. We were very happy and emotional. A few of us started crying. We were hugging each other after we scored. I was on defense at the other end of the field, I sprinted to the other end of the field and started hugging my teammates.” said Trebuig.
This win was a turning point for the girls, pushing them to their goal strategically. “The best part about this win is definitely seeing how far we came as a team compared to last year, because we got a new coach, we had a new set of skills to set a new mindset. In the past years, we weren’t that good. We were very negative but then, as my years in high school progressed, the team has become closer, and we bonded more, and we’ve gotten better, and just became more positive people.”
The result could prove helpful for the rest of the season. “This win made us come together more and realize that if we work well as a team, we can accomplish anything on the field and off the field.” Said Trebuig.
The field hockey team has had an incredibly successful season with a record of 9-7, qualifying for shorelines and they have already qualified for states and have a chance to make it to the championship. “Our season has been going well. I think we’ll continue to be really determined and motivated to win because Morgan hasn’t won a shoreline or state conference in a long time. So, I think we’re really determined to put another year on that banner.” said junior, Hope Savage. The girls were on a winning streak before playing North Branford but sadly, lost to Westbrook. But, they bounced back with a win against Old Saybrook with the score being 4-0. Going forward, they will play Valley and North Branford again.
“After the game, our season really skyrocketed and after that, our confidence went up, but not too high, but just where we were humble about it, and we were on a winning streak after that, and it just made our team our season very successful, and it will continue to do so,” closed O’Donnell.
