Ciancio scores twice as Haverford holds on to win

HAVERFORD — Midway through the season, things weren’t looking very good for the Haverford field hockey team.

After nine games, the Fords were three games under .500 and struggling.

Part of it was the schedule. Their six losses were to teams that all made the District 1 playoffs, Garnet Valley, Plymouth Whitemarsh and Conestoga in Class 3A and Radnor, Bishop Shanahan and Merion Mercy in Class 2A.

Garnet Valley and PW are the top two seeds in Class 3A, and Radnor and Bishop Shanahan are Nos. 1-2 in Class 2A.

An inability to finish was another part of the problem. While they had plenty of opportunities, according to head coach Christa Taylor, the Fords had trouble finding the back of the cage. Haverford only scored five times in those six losses, while giving up 15 goals.

Since then, however, the 12th-seeded Fords have been on fire. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games, including Monday’s thrilling 2-1 triumph over Avon Grove at A.G. Cornog Stadium in the opening round of the District 1 Class 3A playoffs.

The only loss in that second-half stretch was a 2-0 setback to Mount St. Joseph, which qualified for the Class 2A tournament so all of Haverford’s losses have been to playoff teams. More importantly, they’ve outscored the opposition, 34-4, over the last 10 games and posted six shutouts.

“I think our connection on passing has really improved,” senior Shannon Quaile said.

“Yeah, we have gotten better as passing,” added senior Mia Ciancio.

That wasn’t the only improvement.

“We played too much as individuals,” Quaile said. “We tried to dribble by ourselves, but once we started connecting the ball and making passes, we got up the field a lot more.”

Improved communication, from the goal on out, has also aided in the turnaround.

“It’s been a point of emphasis for us to talk from the backfield,” Taylor said. “I still have to get my lines in front to listen. That’s hard, but I think we’re doing a better job of communicating.”

It helps to have a back line that can push the ball forward the way the Fords (12-7) do. Cianco, Quaile, Leah Drake, Ella VanLuvender and Sophia Conners consistently pressed the attack and that paid off in 12 corners for the Fords.

“We emphasize that a lot in practice,” Ciancio said. “We don’t want to be playing defensively. We want to attack and keep it as high as we can.”

“Shannon can provide us that long ball from the outside and Leah can kind of wiggle through people a little bit,” Taylor said. “Both of them have really good passing skills. They feed the ball very well out of the center, but also do a nice job defensively blocking up the center. It’s nice to have that flexibility with our personnel.”

Ciancio, who plays left back and also is the insert on corners, scored both goals for the Fords. Quaile, who rotated between center-back and center-midfield with Drake, had the assist on Ciancio’s winner with 17:31 to play in the game.

“I don’t score much,” Ciancio said. “The only time I score is on corners because I play defense. I sneak in and try to get on post so I can tip.”

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Haverford’s Mia Ciancio, in action against Lower Merion earlier this season, scored both goals to lead the Fords to a 2-1 victory over Avon Grove Monday in the opening round of the District 1 Class 3A field hockey tournament.