FRONTENAC- Kate Logsdon plays field hockey with an artful combination of speed and creativity, but when the ball enters the circle, she is all grit.
“It’s about being ready. You only have so many opportunities to score in the circle and it’s about making the best of those opportunities,” Logsdon said.
Logsdon netted her third consecutive hat trick, including two goals in a 30-second span, and junior Sophie Buchowski led a stifling defensive performance as John Burroughs defeated Villa Duchesne 3-0 in a battle of powerhouse programs Wednesday at Condie Field.
John Burroughs (7-2), the defending Missouri state champion, won for the fourth time in the last five meetings against Villa Duchesne, after losing 15 consecutive games to the Saints between 2011-2021.
A signature Villa Duchesne opening blitz in the opening 40 seconds included a penalty corner and required a pair of strong saves by John Burroughs goalie Tessa Zwicker.
Villa Duchesne (11-1) overplayed the sidelines and forced the Bombers to maneuver the ball through the middle of the field, where senior Katie Crump and freshman Molly McLaughlin pressured the Bombers into going faster than they wanted to go.
“Villa is a very well-coached, very disciplined, very organized team and they have tremendous personnel, and with that, we knew we going to have our hands full today,” John Burroughs coach Meridith Thorpe said.
The game remained scoreless after 26 minutes. The Saints earned three penalty corners before John Burroughs earned its first, but one opportunity was all Logsdon and the Bombers needed.
Late in the second quarter, Buchowski provided the insert, raced to the side of the net and deflected Sarah Ding’s shot high into the air. Logsdon stood on the opposite side of the cage, and with her stick raised above her head, batted the ball out of the sky and into the net to give John Burroughs a 1-0 lead.
For the Yale-bound Buchowski, providing the insert on penalty corners is a brand new skill in her wide array of talents.
“I was kind of just thrown into it, but from watching so many corners I knew what a good inserter had to do. It’s just pushing the ball out, then stepping in front (of the net) and trying to get a touch on the ball.”
Less than 30 seconds after the Bombers broke the ice, junior Hanna Scheessele intercepted a pass and sent Ding through the middle with speed. Ding, a University of Pennsylvania commit, entered the circle and delivered a blistering shot that Saints’ goalie Izzy Miller kicked aside, but Logsdon stood unaccompanied in front of the cage and drilled home the rebound.
“Sarah had a really good shot and it’s just about being down and ready in the circle, being ready for anything,” Logsdon said.
Villa Duchesne coach Kate Graft made certain that a disappointing 30-second sequence did not damper an overall strong performance from the Saints.
“Overall, I’m proud of the girls. They gave a ton of good effort and a lot of hustle. Unfortunately, that 30-seconds when we had a couple mental breaks and we stopped playing defense, hurt us,” Graft said. “I told them not to be disappointed. That’s a great Burroughs team. We had our chances and we just didn’t capitalize. Props to Burroughs for finishing when they had the opportunities.”
Midway through the third quarter, Logsdon was ready in the circle once again. A bouncing pass from Buchowski avoided the sticks of multiple players on each team before it stopped abruptly on the stick Logsdon and slammed loudly into the back board of the cage.
Logsdon buried her third goal of the game and notched her fourth hat trick of the season in just the Bombers ninth game. She currently has 14 goals on the season and has a streak of three consecutive games with a hat trick after accomplishing the feat against Ursuline, Cor Jesu and Villa Duchesne in a 10-day span from Sept. 9-18.
She attributed the Bombers’ success on Wednesday to being able to slow down and simplify their game after a somewhat overzealous start.
“Just keeping our calm, executing our gameplan and not being too frantic on the ball. The backfield did a great job of making the simple pass and we just settled down,” Logsdon said.
That backfield, consisting of Buchowski, Scheesseele, Jane Dunaway, Lilly Tourville and Finnley Desloge, helped Zwicker pitch her fifth consecutive shutout while thwarting seven Villa Duchesne penalty corners.
“We just try to read what they’re going to do and step in front of them. We’ve being practicing our (defensive penalty corners) a lot and it really paid off,” Buchowski said.
Last season, John Burroughs ousted three-time defending champion Villa Duchesne in a state semifinal before capturing its first state title since 2010. The Bombers are the team others want to knock off the pedestal this year.
“I think there’s definitely a target on our back, but I think that really motivates us to work harder,” Buchowski said. “Last year we said, ‘Let’s win a state championship,’ and this year our mindset is more like, ‘Let’s win it again, but do an even better job at it.’ Our intensity, our grit and our joy for the sport is heightened even more than last year.”
And before future rewards can occur, the Bombers know they must continue to prepare in the present.
“We really do take it one game at a time and look to improve our product, and I’m really pleased with what we were able to do today against a very, very good team,” Thorpe said.
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