JAY — Avery and Rylee Sevigny are devoted sisters who enjoy each others’ company on the field.

The inseparable pair, who play side-by-side and wouldn’t have it any other way, each scored a goal to provide the Mountain Valley Falcons with a 2-1 victory over the stubborn Spruce Mountain Phoenix (2-1) in a Mountain Valley Conference field hockey game on a warm Monday afternoon.

“We played good together as a team and we just never give up until the buzzer went off,” Avery said.

“Last year was hard,” Rylee said. “I was in middle school and she was a freshman.”

But they are back on the field together, and that works well for the pair and Mountain Valley.

Despite all their efforts and outshooting the Falcons, 17-6, the Phoenix simply had trouble scoring, even with the advantage in corners, 16-4.

“We just can’t score on corners,” Spruce Mountain coach Tanya Evans said. “It doesn’t matter. They had more go in than we did.

“At the end that is the important thing. The team wasn’t playing to their potential today. That is something we are going to have to work on in practice that they need to play to their potential every time, every game.”

For the first 10 minutes of the first half, Spruce Mountain kept pressing and the Falcons’ defense kept getting in the way, including goalie Alyssa Akers, who made 16 saves.

“We had to have a talk about, ‘Yes, it hot outside. It is tough for everyone.’ We don’t need talk about how hot it is,” Mountain Valley coach Melissa Forbes said. “They didn’t quit. The defense was tough after they got down and the offense started to develop.

“(Akers) played great. She kept us in the game. (The Sevignys) are starting to come into their own. They play side-by-side with great communication.”

But with 18:42 minutes left in the first half, Avery Sevingy took a feed from her sister and punched in the first goal of game.

Mountain Valley’s goal didn’t sit well with the Phoenix, who responded in kind with 4:19 left in the first half. Sophomore forward Emily Castonguay slipped the ball past Akers on an assist by junior midfielder Avery Williams to tie the game going into the half.

The second half featured another round of back-and-forth action as the level of frustration rose for both teams.

With signs that the game just might go into overtime, the Falcons took the edge off with less than 15 minutes remaining in the game when Rylee Sevigny scored on an Alyvia Lee assist.

From there on, the Phoenix just couldn’t pry open the Mountain Valley net for another goal.

Mountain Valley’s Avery Sevigny (4) slaps the ball past Spruce Mountain goalie Sydney Shaffer in the first half of a Mountain Valley Conference field hockey game in Jay on Monday afternoon. Copy the Story Link