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 GREENCASTLE,
IND. — Apparently, you can go to Wal-Mart
and pick up field hockey wins. At least that's what
DePauw coach Beth Wesolich has ingrained into her
players.
The interim coach spends about half of her practices
working on the team's conditioning. One of the drills is
to run all the way to Wal-Mart and back. A task that paid
dividends for the Tigers (7-0) in their 1-0 overtime
thriller against Denison University, the ninth-ranked
team in Div. III.
“Coach told us before the overtime that 35
minutes isn't even to Wal-Mart and back,” sophomore
Cindy Davis said. “We were just pumped and ready to
go.”
The first half was sluggish, but there was a strong
forward push in the second half that finally paid off
with 2:07 left in overtime. Sophomore wing Katie
Turrentine cleaned up a cross from senior Chris Brown,
whacking it off the ground and past Denison goalie Nicole
Shakir-Botteri. The win avenged last year's 1-0 regular
season loss to Denison.
“This game is the way we work,” Wesolich
said. “We keep building as the game goes on and
getting stronger.”
The 12th-ranked Tigers almost ended the game twice
before Turrentine's game winner, her third of the season.
Davis put one in the goal off a corner with seven minutes
left in the game, but while DePauw players and fans
celebrated, the referees ruled the ball was too high and
disallowed the goal.
“She's awesome,” Turrentine said of her
teammate. “She's a very good stick handler and
someone that really helps us all over the field.”
Later in overtime, Davis seemed to score again but the
referees shook that goal off too, saying Davis kicked it
in.
“I thought the first one was good but [the refs]
disagreed,” Davis said. The calls didn't affect her
emotionally though. “It happened so fast that you
just have to forget about it and play defense.”
DePauw destroyed Hanover College Saturday afternoon
10-0 before taking on Denison Sunday. It was the
physically-fit Tigers that were the ones looking tired in
the first half though. Denison had control of the ball on
the DePauw side of the field for most of the entire first
half. Only towards the end of the half did DePauw manage
to put together any sort of offense together.
“We came out really flat for the first 15
minutes,” sophomore back Alisa Heytow said.
“But we're more of a second half team.” Luckily
the defense was able to hold Denison scoreless while the
offense figured itself out.
But the second half was an entirely different match.
Heytow became more aggressive on the defensive end, even
mixing it up with a Denison forward, who was about a foot
taller. Heytow was pushed down, tried to get up, but was
stopped as the Denison player stepped over her, keeping
her on the ground. Heytow didn't appreciate this and let
the Denison player know this.
The rest of the Tiger team followed suit. Along with
Davis, junior wing Lisa Goecke got on track with several
good shots on goal. DePauw senior goalie Liz Hamilton
played all 83 minutes of the game to preserve the
shutout.
Wesolich thinks quality wins like this will help
DePauw earn some respect among other ranked teams.
“I make them run a lot, but it's paying
off,” Wesolich said. “I completely think we're
ready to make a run.”
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