BUXTON — Thornton Academy had little success on its penalty corners during the first half of Tuesday’s SMAA field hockey game against Bonny Eagle, and little success of any kind on offense, as the Trojans went into halftime without a goal against the Scots. But those corners were finally converted in the second half and the Trojans pulled out a 2-0 victory at Mahoney Memorial Field.

Thornton Academy (3-0) was able to put heavy pressure on the Bonny Eagle (1- 1) defense early on, but wasn’t able to push through. Taylor Ouellette had her shot deflected high and over Scots goalie Ashlyn Wintle 11:30 in, but the chance rolled wide. The Trojans’ first penalty corner came just over a minute later and included two quality scoring chances, but no goal. It did lead to another corner, but Grace Pickering’s shot into the goal was waved off after her attempt was deemed to have come outside the circle.

Thornton kept pushing its attack, but there was no budge from the Bonny Eagle back line, as the teams headed into halftime with a scoreless tie.

“We knew we were dominating possession, but games like this can be really frustrating when you’re in the circle and they were packing the circle defensively and fouling us a lot, so you don’t get a lot going,” said Thornton head coach Lori Smith. “We weren’t down, but you start to wonder ‘okay, when’s that ball going to go in?’”

The ball nearly went in for Bonny Eagle 1:30 into the second half, as TA goalie Isabella Capozzi was forced to make a kick save and the Scots soon after got their first and only corner of the game. But Capozzi and the Trojan defense held strong in securing its third straight shutout to start the season.

“I think out of our three games this might have been our best defensive game,” said Smith.

Grace Decker, one of TA’s backs, said the defensive stand was as simple as “staying low with our sticks and not fouling on them, and pressuring them to the outside.”

Decker pitched in on the offensive end as well. She received an insert from Emma Dutremble on TA’s second corner of the second half, then sent the ball cruising toward the net. The stroke glanced off Wintle and into the back of the net to get the Trojans on the board.

“It’s kind of the play, but you kind of see the opening,” said Decker. “I think it could have gone in just right off the stick.”

“That play is usually really successful,” said Dutremble. “I think she’s scored twice off that play. You just got to keep doing it.”

Thornton was awarded another corner less than four minutes later. Dutremble inserted to Grace Pickering, then was at the doorstep of the goal to re-direct the stroke, which was blocked by Wintle, before putting in her own rebound.

“I just got it on my stick and I had to whack it in. I hit it … off the pads and I just followed the shot and it went right in,” said Dutremble.

The consecutive successful corners were a welcome sight for Smith, as the Trojans started the game 0-for-5 on them, including missing on all four opportunities in the first half. But the converted attempts weren’t a complete surprise.

“We’ve been very successful on our corners this year, without even much practice. We’re getting a lot in games, which is good practice too,” said Smith. “I would say we adjust based on the field. At halftime, we say which ones are working best. And it’s based on their defense. What is their defense doing? Do we think this one’s going to work? And so at halftime we just adjusted to the ones we thought were straight shots, we found were working the best.”

Thornton missed on its final penalty corner of the game, but two makes and a stout defensive effort were enough to push the Trojans to 3-0 on the season. They host Cheverus (3-0) Thursday in a battle of unbeaten teams early in the season.

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.