Improved Indians pass eye test

WHITEHALL – Corrine McConville knows field hockey.

She knows that sometimes the team with more ball possession, more shots, and better scoring opportunities doesn’t win.

That’s why McConville doesn’t rely on the scoreboard to determine how her team played – and how much it has improved.

She prefers the eye test instead.

After four years of Division I college field hockey and another year playing professionally in Europe, McConville’s eye for the game in very reliable.

On Wednesday, her Lehighton team passed the eye test.

Because even though the uniforms say the District 11 Class 1A championship game was a rematch of last season’s title game, and even though the scoreboard said that Moravian Academy was once again the winner, McConville knows differently.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my team,” she said moments after the Indians dropped a 2-1 overtime decision. “It was our best game of the season.

“It’ was an awesome display of hockey by both teams. Moravian is usually one of the better teams in this class in the entire state and we showed that we can hang with them.”

Lehighton actually showed it could do more than just hang with them. But after falling to the Lions 8-0 in last season’s championship game, most observers weren’t expecting them to even do that.

“We didn’t come in even thinking about last year,” said Lehighton’s Lauren Marks. “It was a clean slate as far as we were concerned.

“We wanted to give everything we had and battle them as long and hard as we could. I felt like we did that.”

The stunning turnaround from last season’s blowout loss to this season’s epic overtime battle wasn’t lost on McConville, who watched her team give the three-time defending district champion Lions all they could handle.

“Our girls have worked extremely hard to improve individually and as a team,” said the first-year Lehighton coach. “We’ve stressed fitness, fundamentals, skills and field hockey smarts.

“I think we’ve shown tremendous improvement in all those areas this season ... and it isn’t over. We are still improving even this late in the season. Obviously, these aren’t the exact same teams that met last year, but I think we showed that our program is ready to take that next step to play at the level Moravian Academy has been on the last few seasons.”

The team’s improvement wasn’t lost on Indian senior Maura Phelan either.

“We know we are a totally different team than we were last year, and I think Moravian now realizes it too,” Phelan said. “I’m really inspired by how we played.

“We still have the state tournament ahead of us, and although losing like we did tonight is disappointing, I’m really excited to get back on the practice field and get ready for next week.

“I think we showed how much we’ve closed the gap on Moravian. Hopefully we can keep winning and get another shot at them down the line.”

That’s something the Indians probably weren’t saying after their lopsided loss to Moravian last season.

But this is a different Indian team.

A much better Indian team.

An Indian team that now definitely passes the eye test.