East Grand Rapids High School

EGR Varsity Field Hockey v Hudsonville- 10.07.24 Hudsonville hosted EGR on their Senior night, but it was the Lady Pioneers’ Seniors who stole the show. With relentless pressure, five of the seven goals were added to the sheet by co-Captain Kellan Hudson (’25) and stellar midfielder, Henny Maher (’25). Maher also contributed two assists to younger players, and Addie Behler (’25) and Addie Gessner (’25) also contributed an assist each. At some point it becomes difficult to describe the cohesiveness of the EGR team as the contributions come from all positions, all ages and all levels of experience. Camilla Volovlek (’28) continued to sparkle in her first year with another of her right place-right time goals on a re-direction of a shot by Gessner. Lillie Adamy (’26) joined the celebration as she tallied her second goal of the year with a sharp-shooters accuracy into the near side on a beautiful feed to the hook of her stick by Maher. As the goals mounted and the game was safely tucked away, the Lady Pioneers found themselves in unfamiliar positions as the coach continued to experiment with different formations. The result was no let down in effort and certainly no weaknesses presenting openings for the Lady Eagles to try to break through on the scoreboard. A tense moment resulted in the final frame as a brilliant stop from Ellie Hilgendorf (’26) led to a scramble and the fracas ended with a penalty stroke awarded to Hudsonville after the ball struck an EGR foot near the goal line. Hilgendorf calmly settled on her line as the Hudsonville player readied the seven-yard free shot on net. The shot was lifted toward the goal, but with quick reflexes and good hands, Hilgendorf was able to parry the shot to the side and preserve the shutout. As the final horn sounded, the undisputed first OK Conference Field Hockey champion was crowned with a brilliant 7-0 performance. In this first year of the OK Conference Field Hockey, EGR finished with 7 wins, 0 losses and 1 tie (to Rockford). The Lady Pioneers scored 32 goals against the competition, 20 of which came in the second half of the games. Hudson finished as the top scorer in the league with 8 goals and 3 assists. Avery Albers (’27) finished third with 7 goals and 3 assists. Maher’s scintillating performance on Monday night had her finish with 4 goals and 5 assists and fourth in scoring. Volovlek finished off the only scorers to report double digit in points with her 5 goals, good enough for sixth in scoring in the conference play. All in all, seven players for EGR finished with 2 or more goals, and 11 of the 13 field players tallied a point either with a goal or an assist this regular season. This is uncommon balance for a team, and is an encouraging sign heading into their playoff match-up, which will be announced on Wednesday. The Lady Pioneers finished with a 9-6-3 record, and have had a solid run over the past 4 weeks. Come support them as they take on their next foe- stay tuned for the date, time and opponent.