The Wilton High field hockey team knew Norwalk would present a big challenge in Saturday morning's game. And for the first half, at least, that was definitely the case.
But the Warriors asserted control as the first half progressed, and then dominated the second half to score a 2-0 win.
The Bears (7-3), who entered the game with wins over Greenwich, Staples and Ridgefield, were able to get the ball behind the Wilton defense a few times in the opening 20 minutes, with one shot on goal and three penalty corners. Marissa Mastrianni in particular creating some dangerous chances inside the arc. The Warriors switched up the defense, having Mastrianni face-guarded by Molly Thomas and dropping midfielder Jillian Mahon back to help the defense.
In the second half, Norwalk did not have a shot at goal and never got on track offensively.
"They're speedy, they're fast, they're aggressive, and we knew that coming in so it was just a matter of adjusting to their style of play and incorporating our game into that fast pace," said Wilton Head Coach Deirdre Hynes of Norwalk. "I think we definitely had to adjust to their play. So we paid attention to (Mastrianni) a little bit and we had one of our players mark her off, Molly Thomas, and I think she did an excellent job."
The Warriors improved to 8-2 with the win.
Delaney Chase and Mahon each had a goal for Wilton, while Emma Rosen had two assists. Caroline Ferro also had an assist.
Most of the first half was back and forth, with Samantha Troetti making five saves to deny the Warriors. But with 6:55 left in the half, Rosen took the ball down the right side, cut along the end line into the arc, and rolled a ball in front of the goal that was knocked in by Chase.
The Warriors had five corners in the first 10 minutes of the second half that were unsuccessful, but broke through on their sixth corner of the half, with 16:31 left to play, on a well-executed play. Mahon made the insert pass to Rosen, who moved the ball to the right side to Ferro, whose blast to the left post was deflected in by Mahon.
For the game, Wilton had a 7-1 edge in shots on goal, and 9-3 edge in corners.