SPORTS

Perryville staves off Tome comeback in home opener behind two goals from Givens

By Victor Hensley

PERRYVILLE - As Perryville’s Peyton Givens describes it, there’s nothing quite like sinking the ball into the net.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said Givens – the Panthers’ leading goal-scorer through three games this season – with a smile. “It just feels like confetti is raining over your head. It feels amazing.”

The fleet-footed junior scored twice in Perryville’s 3-2 field hockey victory over the Tome Titans last Tuesday, lifting the Pan- thers to a hard-fought win and a 2-1 start to the season.

Givens is one of many Panthers thriving in a fast-paced offense, one centered around quick action and rapid-fire ball movement.

“Our offense all works together as a unit,” said Perryville Head Coach Janet Candy. “Peyton is pretty quick on the fly, she can move to the ball quickly, and we’ve really been working on our offense to get faster shooting from all of them. She’s just one of many pieces when we’re trying to ping-pong the ball around.”

Perryville wasted no time in its home opener against Tome, scoring two goals in the first quarter to jump out to a quick advantage.

Givens led off the scoring with a point-blank strike that whizzed past Tome goalkeeper Aubrey Davis to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead a little over six minutes in, which was followed up by a near-perfect rebound goal by freshman forward Nadalie Adams just six minutes later to make it 2-0.

Despite Candy’s emphasis on rebuilding her team’s defense following the departure of a handful of upperclassmen in the offseason – leading to the team’s freshman-dominated youth movement – the Panthers shined defensively against the Titans.

It took a penalty corner around the nine-minute mark of the second period for Tome to finally get on the board – the product of a nice drive-and-score by Aliza Compher, the Titans’ offensive star. And throughout the game’s 60 minutes, Tome registered just two shots on goal compared to Perryville’s 10, a clear indicator of the Panthers’ impressive defensive showing.

“We’re still working on defense,” Candy said. “We’re getting better and better every game, but we could be way better than what we are, so my expectations of them are even more than what they’re bringing right now.”

The Titans, howev- er, refused to go down without a fight.

After Givens scored her second goal of the night off of a penalty corner with a minute to go in the third – a speedy shot she fired into the upper portion of the net – the Titans roared back in the fourth period on a long-distance heave from Compher to get them within one, 3-2, with six and a half minutes to play.

Tome had numerous scoring opportunities late in the fourth, but Perryville held strong, its shot-blocking defenders working hard to prevent the Titans’ attack from getting a clean look at the tying goal.

“I was proud of them, I really was,” said Jackie Williams, Tome’s longtime head coach, following the loss. “I’ve got chills talking about it, but they came back like they did and they never gave up. They got those two goals on us and they could’ve very easily done that, but they didn’t.”

For Tome, an 0-2 start to the season is less than ideal, but Williams said that gaining valuable experience against tough competition, including Sanford and Perryville, is crucial to her young team’s growth. That includes budding stars like Alena Kirsh, a versatile two-way sophomore that’ll be pivotal to the Titans’ longterm success.

“Alena, I have this girl doing everything because she’s just my versatile player, I put her everywhere,” said Williams. “We can only get better from here. We’ve just got to show up to practice because nobody’s ever gotten worse from practicing.”

Kelsey Jennings scores two goals in shut out victory at Bohemia Manor

The (3-1) North East Indians Field Hockey Team traveled to Bohemia Manor High School on Monday to face the (1-2) Eagles. Kelsey Jennings had two goals. Abby Cisernos had one goal. Brin Khanjar had two assists. Tess

Flashback

By Mick Harper

1. Which group wrote and released “Reminiscing”?

2. Name the group that released an album titled “Walking Through Fire.”

3. Which group released “Neon Rainbow”?

4. Name the band that wrote and released “I Can See for Miles.”

5. Name the song that contains these lyrics: “You may think I’m foolish for the foolish things I do, You may wonder how come I love you when you get on my nerves like you do.”

Answers

1. The Little River Band, in 1978. Recording the song was difficult until the perfect keyboard player came into town just as the band was about to give up. One more shot and there it was, a hit.

2. April Wine, in 1985. The group was under contract for one more album, but by the time they produced this one, the group had already broken up. They managed to pull it off with the use of session musicians and two original members of the band.

3. The Box Tops, in 1967, three months after “The Letter” was released.

4. The Who, in 1967.

5. “Pink Cadillac,” by Bruce Springsteen in 1984. The song stayed on Billboard for 14 weeks and was later covered by numerous others, including Natalie Cole and Jerry Lee Lewis.

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