Booming over the bleachers of Lazier Field, the announcement declared, “And as we start the second half, the score remains . . . scoreless.”

It was 8:30 on Monday night, and field hockey was fiercely competing against one of its long-standing rivals, Loyola Academy, and keeping the game close. But a few minutes later, after a quick lapse of focus, the Kits found themselves in a hole they couldn’t come back from, ultimately losing in the 2-0 loss.

Three minutes in, Loyola scored their first goal, and just four minutes after that, they scored their second. With neither team scoring for the rest of the game, those four minutes determined the outcome of the night.

“It was really like a four-minute lapse; it was from 12 minutes to eight minutes [left in the third quarter] that [Loyola] got those two [goals] in, so I’m trying to tell the girls, it was like four minutes of the game, if we could have those back, it [would have been] 0-0,” expressed varsity head coach Annie Lesch.

Despite those fateful four minutes, ETHS had a strong defensive game with key defensive players Rocca, senior Anna Marks and junior Alice Porter holding up a strong force on the field. However, the Kits were unable to put in any goals against Loyola, resulting in the 2-0 loss.

“The entire second half we were seeing Loyola play some really aggressive traps with two defenders on [junior] Makayla [Clark], which I think we actually played through pretty well,” Rocca explained. “If we were just able to get some more offensive movement with cuts to open spaces or transfers—which is where you swing the ball back and across from one side to the other side of the field—we definitely will be able to convert that into offensive opportunities.”

The game was played tightly enough that it was truly just a few moments of better run from Loyola that determined the score. In fact, throughout the first two quarters, the score remained strictly 0-0, neither team letting up. White and maroon jerseys raced up and down the field, each team playing an equal amount of offense and defense.

“Going into this game, we knew that Loyola was going to be a really competitive, tough match the entire time, and that’s exactly what it was,” senior captain Sofia Rocca shared.

This week, field hockey plays Glenbrook South at home, and coming up next week, the Kits take on the New Trier Trevians at New Trier. Don’t miss out!