Abby Boggs had never played field hockey prior to entering Salem High School and, as it turns out, she did not get a whole lot of time to become familiar with the sport.
Boggs was a varsity starter in goal as a freshman, while also playing for the JV team. She admits that in the beginning, the finer points of the game escaped her.
“I really didn’t know what I was doing,” she said, laughing.
She sure does know now.
A junior, Boggs turned in what she said was among her better performances during Wednesday’s 2-0 victory at Audubon in a non-league game between Group 1 field hockey schools.
She earned the shutout the hard way, by turning away shot after shot. Boggs made 13 saves, many with Audubon buzzing around the goal.
Audubon also missed a penalty stroke in the third quarter, and even though Boggs didn’t get the save on the shot that went wide to her left, she did a nice job cutting down the angle.
Either way, it was a busy day in goal.
“I was happy with the way I played and our defense was great,” she said.
Coach Donna O’Leary was happy with her goalie as well.
“She really did a good job,” said O’Leary, who earned her 297th career win in this, her 33rd season at Salem. “She is a very good goalie.”
The defense was led by senior center back Kaitlynn Tilton. This season defense and goalkeeping has been the strength for the Rams, who improved to 5-3-1 after going 9-3 last year.
As the team’s record both last year and this season suggests, Boggs has made critical improvement. What has helped is that even though she is only into her third year playing the sport, Boggs has developed a serious passion for field hockey.
“I just love it,” she said. “We’re like a family and have such a great team atmosphere.”
While the defense has been strong this season, O’Leary says the offense, which has enjoyed some big games, is still a work in progress. The Rams got all the offense they would need on a first quarter goal by sophomore Autumn Foote, her seventh of the season, off a feed from Morgan VanDover. Sophomore Marissa Bower provided what turned to be an insurance goal in the second quarter, her second this year.
And for much of the second half, Boggs and her teammates had to fend off some serious charges by Audubon.
“We had so many chances and just couldn’t capitalize today,” said Audubon assistant coach Lauren Fehr, who guided the team because head coach Patrice Kilvington was preparing for her son’s upcoming wedding.
Fehr had nothing but praise for Boggs in goal.
“She was fantastic,” Fehr said. “I give her all the credit. She was diving, she was wonderful and a really good goalie for them.”
Boggs is enjoying the sport so much that she said after the season she plans on playing club field hockey.
“I kind of want to take this on to college,” Boggs said.
One suggestion: If a future college coach is looking for a resume tape, Wednesday’s win over Audubon should more than suffice.
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