New Kent drops home field hockey finale to Smithfield

Lady Trojan Emily Montecalvo (left) reaches to deflect the pass attempt by Smithfield's Hannah Zenges.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Smithfield’s Packers made the most of their first two penalty corners of the night, scoring goals off both to set the tone for a 4-0 field hockey win over New Kent’s host Lady Trojans.

The Packers broke into the scoring column four minutes into Thursday’s contest. Five minutes after that, the visitors owned a 2-0 advantage.

“We came out a little slow,” said Lady Trojan coach Matt Duckworth, acknowledging that the previous night’s 3-0 shutout win over Colonial Heights could have taken a toll.

“Little things hurt us like being slow to get to the ball,” he said, but adding, “[Smithfield] definitely had some good set pieces.”

The 2-0 Packer lead stood up through halftime, but the visitors opened the second half with a quick goal — Hannah Zenges’ second score of the night — to create a comfortable three-goal advantage. The final goal came with just over four minutes left.

New Kent, now 4-11, mounted few scoring challenges during their final regular season home appearance. The hosts got off only three shots and had a mere two corner situations, all in the second half.

“In the second half, we got a few more opportunities, but didn’t take advantage of them,” Duckworth said.

Lady Trojan keeper Kindred Grey had a busy night in goal, stopping 16 of 20 Packer shots.