Ladue Field Hockey: Snappy 5-0 Shutout of Clayton

Barb Dwyer is the teacher and Darby Hogan is the pupil, at least that’s how it goes in field hockey. Hogan played for Dwyer at Ladue High, and now has the reigns of the Clayton High program.

Wednesday afternoon, Dwyer took student pretty much to school. Dwyer has been at coaching a long time and has an established program with which to draw talent. Hogan on the other hand is painfully creating interest one year at a time,  and building a program slowly.  The Greyhounds have won just 3 games this year.

Ladue rolled up four first-half goals and cruised to a a clock shortened 5-0 victory over the visitors from Clayton.

Ladue got its 4th and 5th goals from senior Caroline Stapleton.

The first goal scored came from Courtney Emert, less than a minute into the contest. Quickly thereafter, Concie O’Keefe and team scoring leader Elise Pellett each scored to put the game well out of reach.

Lizzy Wallis, senior goal keeper felt a little like the May Tag repair woman. Clayton only got off 6 shots all afternoon. On the other hand, Ladue has 15 scoring chances.

Stapleton was thinking about scoring prior to arriving at the field. Did she think she was going to get 2 goals in the game? “I wanted to,” she said.

The season is picking up steam. “We had a rough start. We had a lot of injuries but now we have everyone back and it feels good to get a couple of wins.

“This has been an enjoyable year for the Rams. We have 8 seniors and we are like one big family,” said Stapleton.

Teacher Dwyer was pleased overall with the outcome. “We are starting to pass a lot better. We have had a lot of players out hurt. We have some tough games coming up, and that will get us ready for (the post season) tournament.

“Yes, it was nice to see Caroline (Stapleton) get a couple of goals and Elise (Pellett) is just returning from mono.

Our goalie played well too. This is Lizzy (Wallis) second game back and she had some key saves.”

About that teacher-student relationship.

“I still remember Darby (Hogan) when she played for us. She was a great field hockey player and she is a good coach. The program has improved since she’s taken over. I know they are hurting with numbers. She will build a quality program. She is a student of the game, it will come and they will have to have a lot of patience.”

Ladue gets the real deal today. They play Villa Duchesne at home and the Saints are trying to bounce back from their 1-0 loss earlier this week to MICDS.