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By STEVE SEMBRAT
Tuesday, September 27, 1994 Page: 1B
Times Leader Assistant Sports Editor
WILKES-BARRE — Tunkhannock’s Megan Bovine did the right thing Monday.
She hustled Coughlin.
The senior team captain helped the Tigers dominate the right side of the
field, which led to a 4-2 victory over the Crusaders at Guthrie Field.
Molly O’Malley scored three goals as Tunkhannock won a battle of teams that
had entered the game unbeaten in Wyoming Valley Conference field hockey. The
Tigers, ranked sixth in the state in Class AAA, improved to 7-0 and are tied
for first place with Crestwood in the WVC’s overall and AAA standings.
It was the first loss of the season for Coughlin, 5-1. The Crusaders were
in the “also under consideration” category in the latest AAA state poll.
“Megan is a hustler,” Tunkhannock coach Denise Wisser said of Bovine.
“She’ll give you everything she’s got. She’s dynamic in the midfield over on
her side.”
Bovine, who plays right midfield, said she knew the ball would be on her
side of the field a lot. After all, that’s where Coughlin forwards Megan Burke
and Jill Answini play. Burke and Answini both rank in the top 10 in the league
in scoring, and have produced well over half of the Crusaders’ goals.
The ball came toward Burke and Answini quite a bit, yet it was Bovine who
ended up with it on her stick more often than not. She helped Tunkhannock
control the critical area of the field along with right halfback Karen Kennedy
and right wing Amy Slocum.
The play of that trio allowed the Tigers to dominate the game statistically
and pull out the key win. Tunkhannock had a 20-3 edge in shots on goal and
21-3 advantage in penalty corners.
“Amy and I talk about this a lot, I know where she’s going to go and how
she’s going to play,” Bovine said. “It’s just instinct.
“Karen and I switch off a lot. She’ll come up to play a ball and I’ll move
back. We’re ready to take over the other person’s position any time one of us
is tired.”
Tunkhannock left wing Sara Slocum scored the only goal of the first half,
but the thrust came from the right side. Amy Slocum sent a free hit to Robin
Davies, who relayed it in front of the cage. Sara Slocum tapped it in to score
her second goal of the season at 14:15.
O’Malley made it 2-0 at 5:45 of the second half. Coughlin goalie Jodi
Dessoye, who played a strong game and made 13 saves, stopped shots by
Gabrielle McCann, then Davies. A third shot by Elyse Sisle went off a stick
and right to O’Malley, who drilled it in. Again, the entire thrust could be
traced back to Bovine.
“Megan is definitely our vocal leader,” O’Malley said of Bovine. “She is a
leader on the field.
“We were ready to key on Megan Burke. We were keying on her, and Megan
(Bovine) was able to get the ball up to our forwards.”
Coughlin stayed close by scoring on two of its three penalty corners. The
Crusaders pulled within 2-1 on Regina Balut’s goal, which came at 10:15.
O’Malley put Tunkhannock up by two goals once again at 12:40. Coughlin
pulled within 3-2 on Sara Clause’s goal at 14:15.
“That’s how our games usually are,” Coughlin coach Colleen Wood said. “The
first half is slow and then we get up to pace.”
O’Malley finally settled the issue with an unassisted goal at 22:47,
putting Tunkhannock ahead, 4-2.
“That was like slow motion,” Wood said. “It was like nobody was moving.”
O’Malley has a way of doing that to opponents. On this goal, she faked out
two defenders and whistled in a shot. And she did it on the muddiest spot of a
rain-soaked field.
“Actually, it wasn’t too bad down there,” O’Malley said. “It didn’t hurt
when we fell. That’s one good thing about it.
“We improved when we played at that end, if that makes any sense.”
This is just the start of a brutal week for Coughlin. On Wednesday, the
Crusaders play at Wyoming Seminary, which is ranked fifth in the state in
Class AA. On Friday, Coughlin gets a little bit of a break when it hosts
Dallas, a team that appears in the “also under consideration” category of the
AA state rankings.
“They played their hearts out,” Wood said of her team. “That’s all I can
ask.”
Tunkhannock 1 3 — 4
Coughlin 0 2 — 2
Scoring Summary: First Half — 1.Tun, Sara Slocum 2 (Robin Davies) 14:15.
Second Half — 2.Tun, Molly O’Malley 12 (Elyse Sisle) 5:45; 3.Cou, Regina
Balut 2 (Jill Answini) 10:15; 4.Tun, Molly O’Malley 13 (Elyse Sisle) 12:40;
5.Cou, Sara Clause 2 (Jill Answini) 14:15; 6.Tun, Molly O’Malley 14 (un)
22:47.
Corners: Tun 21, Cou 3. Shots on goal: Tun 20, Cou 3. Goalie Saves: Tun
(Aimee Mills) 1, Cou (Jodi Dessoye) 13.
Three games postponed
The Lake-Lehman at Hazleton, Bishop O’Reilly at Meyers and GAR at
Wallenpaupack field hockey games were postponed because of wet grounds.
No make-up date for any of those contests has been set.
One other scheduling note: two games rained out on Friday were rescheduled
for today — Dallas at Bishop O’Reilly and Northwest at Abington Heights.