Pleasant Vy. falls to Parkland
DON HERB/Special to THE TIMES NEWS Pleasant Valley's katie Forte takes control of the ball against Parkland.
OREFIELD - One of Pleasant Valley's achilles heels during the 2011 field hockey season was the lack of offense the team showed at times.
During Tuesday's District 11 Class 3A first round matchup against a tough opponent in No. 5 seed Parkland, the No. 12 seed Bears once again struggled to find the back of the net.
"Offensively, I think it's been our struggle all year," said Pleasant Valley head coach Angela Frantz. "It's been a struggle to get into a rhythm so I think that just stems in from just how we've been doing."
The Trojans scored within 1:25 into the game, putting the Bears in a hole extremely early. The margin, however, didn't decrease for the Bears either.
Three more first half goals by the Trojans put them ahead 4-0 at halftime, and the offense was never able to fully generate itself back into the contest.
The Bears did get on the scoreboard in the second half with roughly nine minutes remaining in the game. The offense picked up as well, and the team had a a number of opportunities in the second half. Unfortunately those opportunities didn't result in goals for the Bears.
"The second half we came out a lot stronger than in the first half definitely," said Frantz. "I mean we definitely looked liked we wanted it more, but the problem was in the first half we didn't come out alive like we should have and Parkland did. You got to give it to Parkland. They wanted it that first half."
The Bears locked down on defense in the final 30 minutes too, allowing just three Parkland shots and no goals in the second half compared to eight shots and four goals in the first half.
Despite the loss, Frantz is pleased with her team's performance this season while having to overcome a number of obstacles in the way.
The team is extremely young and has just six seniors on the roster. Of those six seniors, one was injured for the entire season, while two other Bears missed half the season with injuries.
"I'm proud of everything," said Frantz. "They all gave their hearts every single game they played. We overcame so many injuries and so many starters having to be out of the game because they were injured for so long."
