Schuster’s Shootout Saves, McGrory’s Goals Send East Hampton Field Hockey to County Semifinals

Caeleigh Schuster collapsed to her knees in relief as her teammates rushed toward her — piling on top of their freshman goalkeeper in celebration and thanks as her final save in a second round of shootouts lifted their No. 3 seed East Hampton field hockey team to a 2-1 victory over No. 6 East Islip.

The Bonackers advanced to the Class B semifinals on Wednesday, October 26, where East Hampton faced No. 2 Harborfields on the road, results of which occurred too late to appear in this week’s edition, but can be found online at 27east.com and in next week’s edition.

“I can’t really describe this feeling,” Schuster said, still radiating with jubilation. “I just wanted to help my team because they put so much in it. I wanted to go home with a win.”

The freshman had come out of the box on senior forward Alyssa Benvengo, batted the ball back, and as Benvengo lost possession and slid past it, Schuster knelt down, stretched her arm out and knocked the ball to her left to stop her eighth shootout opponent.

East Hampton head coach Samantha James said she had nothing but the utmost confidence in her goalkeeper to get the job done.

“We practice this every day,” she said. “We’ve been in this situation five times this season, so they know the routine and they know what to do. And they did it.”

Junior forward Emma McGrory scored the lone Bonackers goal in regulation. Off a deflection, she knocked the ball in front and center from 15 yards out to put East Hampton (11-3-1) on the board with 1:35 left in the first half. McGrory had come close multiple times throughout the game, racing to every loose ball and securing many minutes of possession, so James said she knew it was only a matter of time until she scored.

“She definitely has wheels. I’m always shouting it to her to run,” the coach said, laughing. “And her stick skills are phenomenal. She works on her game year-round, so we’re happy we have her.”

But their opponents weren’t going to go down without a fight. East Islip (9-7) had tons of chances off corners, but senior midfielder Sarah Smalley ended up finding the right corner on a shot from the left side of the cage with 7:55 left to play to knot the score and eventually send the game into overtime.

Neither team scored in either of the 10-minute overtime sessions that followed, so a shootout ensued. After three East Hampton and two East Islip saves by sophomore goalkeeper Cassie Dodenhoff, senior defender Chloe Coleman found the back of the box, but Benvengo was quick to tie it. East Hampton’s last shot missed, so the result was a second shootout.

“We know with shootouts, especially given our experience with them, that it’s a huge mental game, especially for our goalie, so we tried to just be supportive of each other,” McGrory said. “But Caeleigh does a lot of outside training and works very hard, so it’s easy for all of us to have a lot of faith in her — it’s insane what she does, especially being a freshman. She impresses us every day. And she always brings our level up.”

In the second round, junior midfielder Melina Sarlo was first to go, and score, but Smalley followed to once again tie things up. Then entered McGrory, who bulled her way up the middle, drew Dodenhoff out and juked before carrying the ball to her right and shooting into the corner of the cage for the eventual game-winner.

“I usually don’t think about it, but this time, I knew the goalie was smaller than me, so I wanted to be intimidating,” McGrory said, laughing while discussing her strategy. “I went straight toward her to see how she’d react, and then adjusted from there. And when it went in, I was proud — I felt on top of the world.”

The game was intense from beginning to end, James said, and that pressure only grew as Schuster still had to stop four opponents to seal the deal.

“I was pretty pumped. I was excited,” the freshman said of her thoughts heading into the shootout. “We just had to stay calm and power through it. I knew I had to sit back, see the ball and find the ball.”

McGrory said the win means a lot to the Bonackers after exiting in the first round last season.

“We all have so much faith in each other, and I think that’s what makes us such a great team,” McGrory said. “We’re all very excited to see what happens next. We want to bring it home.”