Pinckney Field Hockey Edged In Downpour

In a battle of two field hockey teams in their inaugural seasons, it was Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard  defeating Pinckney in a very tough 3-1 game. In Pinckney, it was a very beautiful, warm fall evening until with about 3 minutes left in the first half the sky exploded with torrential rains. Both teams played through it though until the very end.

The Pirates put a lot of pressure on the Irish netminder early through the first half, and they struck first in the game when Molly Miller took a deflection and passed it out to Nicole Burcon who buried the ball to the right in the Irish goal. It was the Pinckney Field Hockey teams only second goal of its young existence.

The Pirates had several penalty corners in their advantage in the first half and were able to get many shots on goal. First half Pirate goalie Sam Smith stopped everything the Irish threw at her.

After halftime though, it was all Irish. They struck fast scoring on the first shot of the second half. In spite of the drenching rainstorms, both teams battled on and the Pirates put much pressure on the Irish but couldn’t get another score. The Irish would score twice more to seal the victory for them. The Pirates are still looking for their first victory as a team but it’s a very young team and is coming along very fine.

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Pinckney Coming Along Strong In Inagural Season Of Field Hockey

The Pinckney Pirates faced off against the Clarkston Wolves under the lights in a cold downpour

It had rained for much of the part of the day in Pinckney leaving the Pirate football field very  wet and slippery but it had stopped shortly before the Pirates would host the Clarkson Wolves in field hockey. Both teams are in their inaugural seasons and neither team has a victory let alone had scored a goal on the season.

“We are a very inexperienced team,” Coach Alison Wink stated.  “Only 6 of our 24 girls on the team have even played field hockey. But they are a great group of girls and are very excited to play and are learning and improving every game.”

Just as the game started the Heavens decided to pour down a heavy, cold rain. Undeterred, Pinckney took control right away and moved the ball very well keeping it in Clarkston’s zone for much of the first half. Midway through the first half,the Wolves scored to appear their first goal but it was waved off because of a violation. The Pirates had 5 penalty corners in the first half but failed to capitalize while the Wolves had  4. Both defenses were very strong as they took a 0-0 tie into halftime.

After the 5 minute intermission, it was the Wolves that took control early as they dribbled the ball upfield quickly and scored the team’s first-ever goal in team history just 30 seconds into the half. But Pinckney battled back and just a little over halfway in the period it was the Pirates making history as they scored their first goal ever for the team to tie the game up 1-1. The score was created by a deflection and a beautiful pass from Molly Miller to Madison Stevens who buried the ball in the back of the net. The crowd and the girls all went crazy in excitement, and justifiably so.

With the game tied and both teams playing tough the Wolves capitalized with less than 7 minutes to go as they took a turnover and created an odd-man advantage as they carried down the left side of the field to net the go-ahead goal. Pinckney never gave up though and tried hard to battle back and put much pressure on the Wolves goaltender but it wasn’t enough as the Wolves won the game 2-1.

It was a night of first for both teams as Clarkston scored it’s first ever goal and achieved it’s first victory. Pinckney scored it’s first ever goal also and the team is headed in the right direction with lots of talent on it.

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