The Haddam-Killingworth field hockey team had already posted half-a-dozen shutouts heading into its 10th game of the regular season. Thanks to yet another dynamic defensive outing, the Cougars increased both that number and their win total, while earning a big bounce-back victory.

Traveling to Shoreline Conference rival Valley Regional on Oct. 12, HK was looking to rebound following its first league loss to North Branford just two days earlier. Although the Cougars did show some fatigue, they still held on for a 1-0 victory over the Warriors as a late first-half score from junior Brinley Anderson stood up as the difference maker.

“To me in this game, they were on the attack more than us, but we held them. Our defense just held up and we just kept holding them and preventing,” said Head Coach Patsy Kamercia, whose team then edged Valley again, 2-1 in overtime, on Oct. 14. “We had some chances and good ones after the goal, but we just couldn’t capitalize. Valley Regional, to their credit, played very strong and we were lucky to get out of it with a win.”

The Cougars, who are 9-2 overall and 7-1 in conference play, had to turn aside 19 penalty corners from the Warriors (6-3-0-2, 4-3-1-1) to get the victory. HK put six shots on goal, while Valley Regional had five. Coach Kamercia said that her squad entered the game a little exhausted in playing its third contest in as many days.

“This was an important win for us, but it was our third game in a row. After North Branford, we had our annual Alumni Game, which is against some All-American collegiate athletes. It’s a different game for the girls, but they learn a lot from it, So after that and then coming back versus Valley in a big game, I wasn’t sure if they were 100 percent,” Kamercia said. “We also had some that couldn’t start because of injuries over the weekend, plus we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for Valley.”

With a minute to play in the opening period, senior Julie Hausherr fed the ball to Anderson, who dribbled to the circle and found a slot past Valley netminder Logan Burdick for the game’s lone goal. Burdick’s counterpart in HK senior Meghan Cerino made five stops on the afternoon for the shutout. With the win, the Cougars continued their push toward a Shoreline crown after missing out on the league inaugural title tilt last fall with a late-season overtime loss to Westbrook in which HK had to either tie or beat the Knights to reach the championship game.

“They are absolutely driven by that last year. It’s something we talked about all year,” said Kamercia on the Westbrook loss. “This is a very special team and special group of players. They care about each other so much and are willing to take chances without being criticized, which is a huge part of it. They are driven to do well and the chemistry here is phenomenal. Since the beginning of the year, there have been a lot of players that didn’t have varsity experience prior that have improved by leaps and bounds.”

With some help from senior defender Cassie Harlow, plus juniors Rachel Senechal and Julia Kostek, Cerino recently etched her name into Cougars’ lore by becoming the program’s all-time leader in career shutouts with 32, surpassing the previous high mark of 29.

“Meghan is phenomenal and such a huge key to our defense and team overall. We’ve had a lot of great goalies here, so it’s an incredible stat and couldn’t happen to a better person,” said Kamercia. “Cassie, Rachel, and Julie are three critical defensemen and have really come together well as a defensive unit.”

Anderson, senior siblings Julie and Katie Hausherr, and junior Hannah Theriault have also established themselves as the Cougars’ offensive standouts with their great power and play-making abilities.

“Brinley is a strong player with a strong stick and shot. Julie is a leader, a goal scorer, and sets a lot of our plays. Katie and Hannah are also great goal scorers,” said Kamercia. “We try to spread them out in having them attack from the center, left, and right, but all three of them are huge in our goal scoring.”

Following the victory at Valley, the Cougars completed their home-and-home series sweep of the Warriors with a 2-1 overtime victory at HK on Oct. 14. Julie Hausherr (assisted by Anderson with 22:49 left before halftime) put HK ahead 1-0 before the Warriors evened the score with 18:57 remaining in regulation. Anderson then took center stage in the extra session by netting the winning goal with 7:30 to play. HK again outshot Valley by a close margin (7-5) with Cerino stopping four.

The Shoreline Conference has expanded its postseason draw for 2015 by having four clubs qualify for the league tournament. The semifinals will be played at the higher seed on Tuesday, Nov. 3 and the final takes place on Thursday, Nov. 5 at Indian River Complex in Clinton. Coach Kamercia knows her team will be a part of that Shoreline dance, but she’s mostly focused on her Cougars improving their rank for the league and state brackets between now and then.

“It’s an exciting set up for the league and it’s great for the whole conference. We will be in it for sure, but we don’t know our ranking yet,” Kamercia said. “Everyone is jockeying for positioning, but we are all gearing up for states as that’s where you want to play your best ball and the girls are getting better every day.”

From the Sidelines

Through its first 11 games, HK has outscored its opponents a combined margin of 30-7.

The Cougars earned four-straight shutouts from Sept. 29 to Oct. 7 with wins over Westbrook, Morgan, Mercy, and Old Saybrook.

HK’s last conference crown came in 2013 as the second of back-to-back titles. It was 15th overall Shoreline championship for the Cougars.