Titans fall in quarters

By RYAN D. MURRAY

Posted 10/31/19

By RYAN D. MURRAY The Toll Gate Lady Titans were ousted from the Division III Field Hockey playoffs on Monday afternoon after being blanked 4-0 in the Quarterfinal by the Purple at Classical High School. Meghan Merrow, a junior, made 17 saves for the

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Titans fall in quarters

PLAYOFF BATTLE: Toll Gate’s Kristen Poulin.

(Photos by Ryan D. Murray)

STICK WORK: Toll Gate’s Grace Isabella Ventre works through traffic against Classical during the Division III Quarterfinals on Monday afternoon. Classical topped the Lady Titans, eliminating them from the postseason.

(Photos by Ryan D. Murray)

STICK WORK: Toll Gate’s Grace Barta works through traffic against Classical during the Division III Quarterfinals on Monday afternoon. Classical topped the Lady Titans, eliminating them from the postseason.

(Photos by Ryan D. Murray)

Posted Thursday, October 31, 2019 2:26 pm

By RYAN D. MURRAY

The Toll Gate Lady Titans were ousted from the Division III Field Hockey playoffs on Monday afternoon after being blanked 4-0 in the Quarterfinal by the Purple at Classical High School.

Meghan Merrow, a junior, made 17 saves for the Lady Titans while Classical sophomore Xiomara Price stopped the only two shots that she faced.

Freshman Sophia Lindsay scored two goals for the Purple.

Classical drew a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the contest when Sophia Mott, a junior midfielder, found the back of the cage while on the doorstep.

Three minutes later, the Purple upped their margin to 2-0 after Lindsay scored a tally from in front.

“The first 10 minutes of the game kind of set the tone,” Toll Gate head coach Jim Areson said. “They scored those two quick goals, and then I thought we played much better, and the game was a little bit even after that. But it’s kind of hard to play catch up like that in field hockey particularly. It’s just a hard thing to do.”

Toll Gate came into the meeting as the 5-seed while Classical was the 4-seed, but the two squads looked worlds apart at times.

“Classical is a probably the hottest team in our division right now,” Areson said. “They are playing incredibly well. And actually the last time we played them it was the same score line.”

With 13:19 left in the second half, the Purple increased their cushion to 3-0 when Analy Aguilar, a junior midfielder, assisted in front to Coco Maranjian, a junior forward, who slapped a shot into the back of the cage from five yards deep.

Lastly, Lindsay registered her second tally following an assist from Sophia Fox, a junior forward, with 4:27 remaining.

With the conclusion of the Lady Titans season comes the end of an era for some.

“It was a great year,” Areson said. “This is the final game for the seniors on the team. Grace Barta, Isabella Ventre, and Izabella Foley. So, I’m going to miss them. I hope everything turns out really well for them.”

And Areson hopes his returning players come back even stronger next season.

“It was a good season,” Areson continued. “We made the playoffs. The third year in a row that we made the playoffs. We played incredibly hard all season and we did a lot of nice things. Obviously, we have a lot of things to work on and get better at and things along that line. So, hopefully the underclassmen will get better and work on their game and things will turn out a little bit differently next year.”