Seahawks field hockey flying high to start 2024 season
It was a bad week to be on a red team playing Sussex Academy field hockey.
The girls opened their season against perennial powerhouse Smryna Sept. 10, and went down 1-0 late in the second quarter. Sophomore Meredith Schiff scored the first goal of the Seahawks' season to tie the game, while senior Shelby Manlove put away two more off helpers from fellow captains Ryan Lowe and Rilyn Lehman as the girls soared to a headline-grabbing 3-1 victory.
Two days later, the Seahawks carried that momentum to a 9-0 home win over divisional foe Laurel Sept. 12.
“We had the mindset this week of high intensity and intense communication, so we wanted to make sure that everybody on the field was communicating with each other,” Seahawks coach Caitlyn Hardy said. “In previous years, we had a hard time finishing in the circle, so that was a main goal for us this week. We've definitely proved that [against Laurel] and on Tuesday with Smyrna.”
Seniors led the scoring in the Laurel tilt, as Emma Campbell tallied the first goal of the game, and Manlove and Lehman each put one in the cage during the first half. Lowe opened the floodgates with the first goal of the second half, while the other two captains each secured their second goals of the contest to take a 6-0 lead heading into the final frame.
“I think we were excited just to jump right into games coming out from that preseason – lots of practices and lots of intensity. The coaches, they've been awesome at getting us into the groove of what we need to be doing in games,” Manlove said.
A couple of sophomores, Bailey Mears and Liz Layton, scored the next two goals, to their mutual satisfaction. The final goal of the game proved to be a special memory for the Lehman family. Rilyn’s sister, Mady, who had been contributing from the first quarter to the offensive flow, saw her sister racing through the broken circle and into the half circle. The older Lehman dished the ball to her eighth-grade sister, who did not hesitate to crack pine with her shot. A sister-to-sister connection is rarely seen from an eighth-grader and a senior.
“It's amazing to play with her,” Rilyn said. “Her scoring her first goal is always a memory; it'll last forever in my mind and in hers too.”
Hoping to build on their 2-0 start, the Seahawks battled Charter School of Wilmington in the Turf Bowl at the University of Delaware Sept. 14, coming away with a 2-0 win to remain undefeated. In one of the marquee matchups of the 2024 season, Sussex Academy travels to battle Delmar at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 17.
