Maria Palma and Bridget Huber each netted two goals and Hilton scored six times over the first 30 minutes on their way to an 8-0 field hockey victory over Gates-Chili on Senior Day at LeBeau Field.
Palma opened the scoring knocking in the rebound of sophomore Laura Reigle’s shot at 6:51 of the first half and scored again less than three minutes later from ten yards out to make it 2-0 Cadets.
“It feels really good to play your Senior Night and one of last home games,” Palma said. “This team is like family to us, so scoring the two goals meant a lot.”
Huber extended the lead to 3-0 with an assist from Reigle to start a five-minute stretch that saw Hilton net five goals.
Reigle converted off of senior Nora Coon’s corner at 28:45 to make it 4-0 and, just 15 seconds later, Huber drove down the left wing from midfield and netted her second goal of the half.
“Working together as a team brought us together and made these goals possible,” Huber said.
Freshman Nicole Pilon sent a perfect cross to junior Nina Frazier, who converted the final goal of the first half and give the Cadets a 6-0 lead.
Hilton changed up positions in the second half resulting in both senior Kaia McCue and junior Taylor Underwood score their first varsity goals.
McCue, normally a defensive player, tallied her first with an assist from Frazier less than two minutes into the second half and Underwood made a 30-yard run before finding the back of the net at 18:30 for the eighth and final goal of the game.
Haley Chamberlain was called on to make just one save in recording her sixth shutout of the season as the Cadets improved their record to 6-5.
“It was a good opportunity for us to do some fun things and let some people play different positions and get some playing time,” Hilton head coach Annelise Day said. “This is great momentum and hopefully we can take this going into playoffs; it’s good for us to score some goals on the board.”
They wrap up the regular season on the road Tuesday, October 22 before the Section V playoffs begin this coming weekend.
