Young Porters field hockey drops opening game, stays up
When a goaltender plays against some of the best field hockey teams in Suffolk County, she’d better be able to bring plenty of positive vibes to the field.
Alison Erwin, who guards the net for the Greenport/Southold/Mattituck team, did just that on Tuesday. The junior goalie was at her best in the Porters’ 9-0 season-opening loss to East Islip in a League II encounter at Greenport.
She was bombarded with 32 shots while producing an amazing 23 saves.
Erwin’s secret in keeping her cool?
“Every day, my meditation is braiding everyone’s hair. You can see there’s a few braids in there,” she said, pointing to her teammates. “That’s how I get into the zone. I have mantras that I always just keep repeating to myself, because I know it’s going to be a tough game. This is a giant friends group. I trust my girls. I trust myself. It gets tough. I repeat my mantras. ‘You’re confident. Keep going, do what you can do.’ I keep pushing.”
It’s not easy giving up many goals, but Erwin has taken the advice of junior defender Jocelyn Jacobi Holmes. “Jocelyn keeps saying, ‘memory of a goldfish,’ ” she said. “I give myself 10 seconds of frustration and then just keep going.”
Head coach Alexis Reed was impressed with Erwin.
“She’s grown very much in the last two years,” Reed said. “She’s put a lot of hours in trying to get herself better every day. She makes sure that she’s always staying positive, always working really hard, which helps with the girls, because she kind of radiates off everybody else and makes everyone feel good.”
Reed wasn’t alone in her praise. Freshman midfielder Charlie Blasko, who was a lacrosse goalie and a field hockey goalie in the seventh grade, appreciated Erwin’s performance. “Alison did amazing,” she said. “It’s incredibly hard moving around with all that gear. And the way that she was taking those back-to-back shots was incredible.”
Added Jacobi Holmes: “She was phenomenal. The way she just kept picking herself back up, even after the goals, was just incredible and inspiring. It made me keep wanting to go.”
The Redmen scored one minute and 56 seconds into the game on a close range shot by Emily Mooney after Erwin made three saves in quick succession. Mooney set up Kylie Dickson for a goal at the first-quarter buzzer. Yusra Ishtiaq scored her first two varsity goals. Carli Caliguri, Kathryn Coakley, Theresa Codispoti, Julia Hartman and Aubree Jones contributed goals. Goalies Brooke McCally and Emily Saccone combined for the shutout.
“The score doesn’t reflect their effort, because it never does. They worked so hard,” Reed said. “For a lot of them, this was their first varsity experience, two of them as eighth-graders, and the bulk of them are ninth-graders. So, it was a little shocking to them, especially in the first and second quarters. But what I was probably the most proud of was the fact that even though they were getting scored on, they remained positive.”
Sophomore defender Dulce Pineda, a former soccer player, made her field hockey debut.
“It’s amazing, because I usually play soccer, but I like it a lot,” she said. “I feel like I’m doing good for the first game.”
Blasko, who was a forward for two years before being moved to defense, has dual goals.
“I have not gotten a goal. I’ve always been going back on D and so my goal for myself this year is I want to get a goal,” she said. “That’s going to be my thing. For the team, I want us to get a win where we all did our best, because even if we don’t get a win, if we all do our best and we all have a good game, that’s what matters for us.”
The Porters, who have 14 players on their roster, have a young team. They have no seniors on the roster, as five juniors are the most experienced players. “This group makes it really fun to come out here and coach,” Reed said. “They’re not afraid of putting in extra hours. They came in from day one with a good attitude, which, above all, is like the most important thing when you talk about a team. I have just been enjoying every moment with them. We’re in a class with B schools, which is some of the best hockey players you’ll see coming out of Long Island, and we’re up against those girls, so we’re going take a few bumps and bruises.”
