Sussex Academy field hockey flies past Stephen Decatur 6-0

The Maryland Seahawks of Stephen Decatur flew north Oct. 15 to take on the Delaware Seahawks of Sussex Academy, and headed back south with a 6-0 loss.

Playing out closer than the 6-0 score would indicate, the Sussex Academy squad used a big first quarter to distance itself from Stephen Decatur. Captain Ryan Lowe popped the scoring cork by converting a penalty stroke less than three minutes into the contest.

“Getting out early, starting starting off strong and just pushing ahead,” Lowe said about the key to the offensive outburst.

Shea Danahy tapped in an elevated shot from Rilyn Lehman to double Sussex Academy’s lead with just under five minutes to go in the opening frame. Lehman put the Seahawks on autopilot when she scored her 10th goal of the year by tipping in a rebound with 43 seconds left in the first.

“We came out strong, aggressive and played with urgency,” Lehman said.

The captain credited the off-ball movement and making the smart, simple plays as reasons for the prosperity on offense.

Danahy picked up her second goal of the game finishing a beautiful pass from Lente Werner on a fast break, striking within the first three minutes of the quarter for a second time. Lehman grabbed a brace on a well-placed shot off a pass from Ava Yenovkian. 

Scoring her 12th goal of the year, Lehman completed her hat trick with another brilliant shot to give Sussex Academy a 6-0 lead with about six minutes to go. Stephen Decatur had a few chances to avoid the shutout late in the fourth, but goalie Kacie Rawlings and her partners on defense made sure they picked up their seventh clean sheet of the year.

“It makes us stronger and more confident in each other knowing that we can do that over and over again,” Madison Jones said. “We've done it so many times.”

Sussex Academy coach Caitlyn Hardy was very pleased with how her defense played.

“Communication was amazing,” Hardy said. “They have some really strong players on their team, and we did a really good job of man-marking and making sure that our defense was on point tonight.”

Hardy, Jones and Lehman noted the team passing was a strong point for the girls. Sussex Academy was able to keep the center of its half relatively clean and used overlapping runs to keep the ball on the edges.

The Stephen Decatur game was the first of four home games for Sussex Academy to finish out the year. Another win will clinch the program’s fourth straight year of reaching double digits.