John Carroll goalie Erin Dichiera made 10 saves to preserve a 0-0 tie with Park yesterday in a rematch of last season's AIS B Division field hockey title game.
Defending champion Park (4-2-3, 4-0-1) scored three goals to win its title a year ago, but the Bruins couldn't put anything past Dichiera yesterday. The Patriots' junior faced 20 shots, nearly half off visiting Park's 11 penalty corners.
"She's the best goalie we've seen," said Park coach Barbara Purkey. "She was the difference in this game. We really put a lot of pressure on her, because we had the ball on the other side of the 25 [yard line] most of both halves."
Dichiera, who played on the Patriots' junior varsity last year, stopped five shots in each half and had numerous clears.
She even made up for her own mistakes. Twice she kicked the ball into the air, resulting in dangerous clears that gave the Bruins penalty corners. Both times, she fought back with a save against the corner play.
Even the final score didn't discourage Dichiera, who earned her first shutout of the season. "To me, it may be a tie, but it's a shutout, so I still feel like I won," she said.
Park had probably its best chance to score when the Patriots' defense centered the ball in front of the Bruins' goal with about 10 minutes left in the second half. The Bruins attacked Dichiera from the left, but someone sent the ball out of the pack toward right wing Stacey Pusin. Pusin had the perfect angle to punch the ball behind Dichiera, but she couldn't get her stick on it.
The Bruins worked the ball from right to left the entire game with Pusin and Alexa Wilder crossing the ball in to Jayme Gilden. Gilden, who scored all three goals in last year's title game, had about half of Park's shots, but either Dichiera saved them or they carried wide.
The Patriots (2-4-2, 2-1-2) had several fast breaks, but they had trouble getting the ball past the Bruins' midfield and defense, especially Wilder, Jessie Cohen and Jenny Ahern. The Bruins' defense held the Patriots to just four shots the entire game.
"We're still not doing real well on transition," Patriots coach Karen Bonsack said. "We'd get the fast break going and then make a flat pass. We had too many overturns, too many fouls. We just can't seem to get everything together all at the same time."