Our one and only ... Ellyn Griggs!
“If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck”….Now that I have your attention and have you intrigued, I would like to update you on these Stevens Ducks here in Hoboken, New Jersey. Yesterday we played our third Empire 8 Conference opponent Utica College here at the Duck Pond (yes it is capitalized haha).
First, I would like to provide the setting. I started my morning by meeting my sister and crazy awesome goalie Ellyn, star defender Sam Moran, and mid/forward Jill “Bill” Price at the wonderful location of our Pierce dining hall for some delicious eggs and pancakes for breakfast. I knew it was going to be a great day because let’s just say the grill prepared the food on their a-game.
After breakfast, Sam and I went to put the team’s laundry into the washing machine and then to an undisclosed location to get our secret buddy’s gifts. Before every home game, we get our secret buddy a present as a psych for the game. The names are picked randomly at the beginning of the season and the secret buddy is disclosed at the end of the season. Anywho, after that, we had a little time to ourselves before meeting the team in the locker room for our team talk.
After a good talk and of course team stimulus of listening to pump-up songs in the locker room (Taylor Swift is one of my favorites), we left the locker room to watch the conclusion of the men’s soccer game which resulted in a tie after two overtime periods. We then warmed-up for our game. After the announcements of the starters for the game, Empire 8 mission, and playing of the national anthem, it was GAME TIME!! Almost 6 minutes into the game Jessie “Walnuts” Ablonczy beat defenders a ripped a shot into the circle. I saw the ball making its way towards goal and was not going to allow for a defender to get a stick on it. I deflected the ball in and scored the first goal of the game! J We went into half-time with a 1-0 lead and knew that we had to keep up the intensity to keep the lead since both teams were undefeated in the Empire 8. After getting advice from the coaching staff, the team went ahead to score another 2 goals. One goal came from freshman Marguerite “Marge” Chavez who lifted it into cage – she’s great! The last tally came from senior Jessie “Walnuts” who rocketed the ball to the right corner of the goal. Might I say Walnuts played an amazing game with 3 points for the day and some big plays. What a day for Walnuts to score her first goal!!! For the day, the defense of Sam Weisman, Mallory “Meow” “Meowmix” Swanson, Jill, Christina “Darth” Sedberry, Kara, Nicole, Liz “Voldemort,” and goalie/twin of mine was stellar. On the day, Ellyn had 2 saves to make. Enthusiasm and energy for the game came from the players, coaches, and fans of Stevens Field Hockey. In saying, thank you all for the support! The game yesterday was fun to play and was a great environment.
Now, the Ducks are undefeated in the Empire 8 (3-0 in conference) and at an overall record of 10-2. And, as a short digression, I would like to say Ellyn got her 10th win in goal and has 6 shutouts. Her stellar performance is even shown through her statistics released a few days ago – 3rd in the country in personal goals-against average and 3rd in save percentage. She had an amazing performance in the game vs. Drew and had a career-high 18 saves despite the loss coming in double-overtime for the Ducks. The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) released its defensive statistical rankings. The Ducks were 4th in goals-against average, 8th in shutouts per game, 6th in winning percentage, and 4th for save percentage.
First, I would like to provide the setting. I started my morning by meeting my sister and crazy awesome goalie Ellyn, star defender Sam Moran, and mid/forward Jill “Bill” Price at the wonderful location of our Pierce dining hall for some delicious eggs and pancakes for breakfast. I knew it was going to be a great day because let’s just say the grill prepared the food on their a-game.
After breakfast, Sam and I went to put the team’s laundry into the washing machine and then to an undisclosed location to get our secret buddy’s gifts. Before every home game, we get our secret buddy a present as a psych for the game. The names are picked randomly at the beginning of the season and the secret buddy is disclosed at the end of the season. Anywho, after that, we had a little time to ourselves before meeting the team in the locker room for our team talk.
After a good talk and of course team stimulus of listening to pump-up songs in the locker room (Taylor Swift is one of my favorites), we left the locker room to watch the conclusion of the men’s soccer game which resulted in a tie after two overtime periods. We then warmed-up for our game. After the announcements of the starters for the game, Empire 8 mission, and playing of the national anthem, it was GAME TIME!! Almost 6 minutes into the game Jessie “Walnuts” Ablonczy beat defenders a ripped a shot into the circle. I saw the ball making its way towards goal and was not going to allow for a defender to get a stick on it. I deflected the ball in and scored the first goal of the game! J We went into half-time with a 1-0 lead and knew that we had to keep up the intensity to keep the lead since both teams were undefeated in the Empire 8. After getting advice from the coaching staff, the team went ahead to score another 2 goals. One goal came from freshman Marguerite “Marge” Chavez who lifted it into cage – she’s great! The last tally came from senior Jessie “Walnuts” who rocketed the ball to the right corner of the goal. Might I say Walnuts played an amazing game with 3 points for the day and some big plays. What a day for Walnuts to score her first goal!!! For the day, the defense of Sam Weisman, Mallory “Meow” “Meowmix” Swanson, Jill, Christina “Darth” Sedberry, Kara, Nicole, Liz “Voldemort,” and goalie/twin of mine was stellar. On the day, Ellyn had 2 saves to make. Enthusiasm and energy for the game came from the players, coaches, and fans of Stevens Field Hockey. In saying, thank you all for the support! The game yesterday was fun to play and was a great environment.
Now, the Ducks are undefeated in the Empire 8 (3-0 in conference) and at an overall record of 10-2. And, as a short digression, I would like to say Ellyn got her 10th win in goal and has 6 shutouts. Her stellar performance is even shown through her statistics released a few days ago – 3rd in the country in personal goals-against average and 3rd in save percentage. She had an amazing performance in the game vs. Drew and had a career-high 18 saves despite the loss coming in double-overtime for the Ducks. The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) released its defensive statistical rankings. The Ducks were 4th in goals-against average, 8th in shutouts per game, 6th in winning percentage, and 4th for save percentage.
We will look to continue our season this Wednesday at William Paterson University for a 7 pm game. See you there!
-Lauren (“Second Gear” aka “Grigglet, L.” aka “not-Ellyn”)
-Lauren (“Second Gear” aka “Grigglet, L.” aka “not-Ellyn”)
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