Greens Farms Academy field hockey forward Ava Blue ’25 would admit she had some issues scoring goals last season as a fresh-faced freshman.
On Monday afternoon, in an FAA field hockey quarterfinal against sixth-seeded Greenwich Country Day School the third-seeded Dragons got a pair of goals from Blue and posted a 3-0 win over the Tigers.
The Dragons advance to the league semifinals on Wednesday at 2 p.m., at second-seeded Greenwich Academy.
Last year, Blue netted six goals for GFA, including one against GCDS in the FAA quarterfinals.
This season, she has doubled her seasonal scoring output, netting 12 goals on the campaign, including the two against the Tigers.
Blue now has three multi-goal games in her career, including four against Hopkins and two against Holy Child earlier this season.
“It’s exciting, definitely,” Blue said after the game. “It’s nice to be able to do that as a forward because it’s part of your job, but last year I had some problems scoring. Now, it feels a lot more reassuring and confident out there.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Blue scored two goals in the second quarter as GFA took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
The second tally came when Cate Lafreniere '26 made a sweeping run around the circle and got the ball to Grace Almeida ’25. Almeida put a shot on a goal, which deflected off the GCDS goalie and landed near Blue’s stick.
Blue slapped it home to double GFA’s lead.
“She was put in a tough position as a freshman, to start like that at forward,” said GFA coach Liz Schuellein, whose team improved to 13-4-1. “To put that type of pressure on her was tough, but now she’s matured and she’s doing a great job finishing and getting into position to finish with power, and you saw that today.”
In the closing minutes, Analise Trani ’23 scored off Almeida's second assist of the game to make it a 3-0 contest.
The Dragons also pitched their fourth shutout of the season behind goalie Izzy Kittredge ’25, who had nine saves.