CONWELL-EGAN:Lady Eagles off to a rough start

Conwell-Egan junior midfielder Chelsea Colazo (L) trails the play in Sept. 16 battle against O'Hara.

By Steve Sherman
Sports Editor
Conwell-Egan Catholic (CEC) dropped a Sept. 16 home pairing with Cardinal O’Hara, falling to the Lady Lions, 5-1. Still, it was a far cry better than the Eagles’ opener, a 10-0 drubbing suffered at the hands of Archbishop Carroll.
“We’re off to a slow start,” stated CEC head coach Lorraine Lodise “But these two teams are among the best in the Catholic League.”
“I think this team will improve a lot as the season progresses,” added the coach. “I think it’s going to turn out a lot different than how we’ve gotten started.”
Among the captains leading the Conwell field hockey team this season are midfielder Cassie Fario, along with backfielders Jess South and Kaity Malone.
“We have a lot of strong leadership on this team,” stated Lodise. “And I believe they are going to move this team past this.”
Currently, CEC is busy solidifying its defense with junior Kat DiFilipio in goal for the now departed Jamie Macenka, who played between the posts for the past three seasons.
South says the new keeper is holding her own.
“It’s her first year; she never played goalie before but we didn’t have a goalie at all," said Jess.
“She’s doing good for her first couple games."
Yesterday in the pouring rain, the Eagles fell behind, 3-0, at the intermission before senior forward Becca Mutek put a ball into the back of the O’Hara cage midway through the second half with help from senior forward Ashley Soltys.
Malone gave us her thoughts of the rain-soaked affair after the game’s conclusion.
“Today’s game was better than last week’s game. Last week, we started out good but then we lost it,” stated Malone. “This week, we started out a little shaky but then in the second half, we pulled through and scored a goal.”
Other than its two regular season losses, CEC defeated Villa Jo Marie, 3-0, in a preseason scrimmage and outpaced Morrisville, Jenkintown and Plumstead in a Play Day for the Lady Eagles.
Last season, Conwell Egan won just three games including wins over St. Hubert’s and Archbishop Prendergast.
“Last year wasn’t great—I think we had three wins. But it was a tough year because most of the lineup was juniors,” stated Malone. “This year, we’re all seniors so it should be a better year.”
“I think we did pretty good,” stated Fario of the team’s 2008 campaign. “We worked really hard. It’s just that the score didn’t come out the way that we wanted it to.”
Of their three triumphs taken in ‘08, the win over the Bambies was best, say the girls.
“The Hubert’s game was one of our best games. It was a game like this where it was pouring rain,” explained Malone. “They delayed it but when we got out there, we just dominated the whole game.”
With 13 seniors on the squad this year, the girls believe that they’ll emerge with a better record in their current campaign than the one they waged last season.
“We’re going to do pretty good this year,” stated Malone. “We’ve gotten two of the toughest games out of the way so hopefully the rest of the games are wins.”
Fario thinks her team can right itself with a little self-motivation.
“We’re doing alright; we just have to push each other,” she said. “It seems like it takes us a while to get motivated but I’m sure by the next game, we’ll be ready.”