Newport Field Hockey Shuts Out Conant in Opener

As regular-season action continues to heat up in the area, Mike Pezone headed over to Newport yesterday to catch the school’s field hockey team face off against Conant in what was the first game of the year for both teams.

The Tigers looked like the dominant squad right from the opening whistle, carrying play in their offensive zone through much of the contest on their way to an eventual 3-0 shutout victory. Newport saw goals from 3 different sources in the contest, with each one coming off set plays.

The first came near the midway point of the first half after a penalty corner, when Kaitlyn Batista knocked in a pass from Krystin Kibbey to give the home team a 1-0 advantage. Less than 2 minutes later, an inbound from Kibbey resulted in a perfectly-executed pass from Emalie Robertson found Brook Beaulieu wide open with only the goalie to beat. And Beaulieu wasted little time before firing the ball in the cage to give Newport a commanding 2-0 lead.

Then, later in the first half, Robertson was rewarded with a goal of her own when she knocked in a shot on assists from Hailey Perry and Kibbey. Neither team scored in the second half despite Newport outshooting the Orioles 23-2, and earning 10 penalty corners in the game’s final 30 minutes, which is something Beaulieu for one, said her team needs to improve on.

Mike also spoke with Newport head coach Becky Merrow, who said she pleased with the early-season effort, but knows there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

Newport will try and improve to 2-0 tomorrow when it travels to face Bow.