Sachem East opened the girls field hockey season with a convincing 5-1 non-league victory over Pierson on Wednesday afternoon at Sachem High School East.
Five different players scored for East, including Kayla McKenveny who started the scoring barrage halfway through the first half.
On an attack in front of the Pierson net, McKeveny handled a pass from Kristin Bagley and shot on goal. The Pierson goalkeeper made the save, but the rebound went right back to McKeveny who scored.
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RELATED: Check out the 2010 season preview for East field hockey
Jillian Donodeo came through with East's next goal with eight minutes left in the half on a pass from Melissa Fazio. After two saves by the Pierson goalkeeper, Donodeo scored on her second rebound shot to give East a two-goal lead.
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East continued to dominate possession into the second half, but Pierson kept battling, making some unnerving attacks into East's zone. On one offensive out put, a Pierson forward was able to center it for Alexa Lantiero, who tapped in a rebound off of East goalkeeper Samantha Alvino for the score to cut East's lead to 2-1 with 16 minutes left to play in the second half.
East soon answered, cushioning its lead once more on a long shot from McKeveny that developed due to a penalty corner pass from Kathryn Doherty with 12 minutes left to play.
"Katie passed it out to me and I just hit it in," said McKeveny of her goal.
The goal put East up 3-1 and it didn't look back, building on its lead with goals from Kelly Doherty and Kaitlin Trombetta.
"I think that after that third goal it was more comfortable," said East head coach Tina Moon. "It was 2-1 at one point and I think that after we got that third goal they were able to get more in sync with each other."
East outs hot Pierson 17-12 and Alvino came through with eight saves in net. Solid offense aside, Moon still feels that there is room to improve.
"I feel like our positioning and decision making within our positioning off ball needs work," said coach Moon. "And we need to work more on our defense."
East goes on the road next Thursday to take on Walt Whitman at 5:30 p.m.
