In more than 20 years of covering high school field hockey, I had never seen anything as scary as the direct hit in the forehead taken by Garrison Forest defender Bayley Mullan on Friday afternoon. The sound of the impact alone was frightening, not to mention the blood.

It’s amazing that Mullan didn’t even spend the night in the hospital. She had 19 stitches and that’s all. No fracture. No concussion.

She even went to practice Sunday morning and hit around with her teammates.

"I must have a hard head," Mullan said with a laugh, last night from her home in White Hall.

Mullan has heard accounts of the sights and sound of the accident from her teammates and other witnesses, but, she said, the initial impact didn’t scare her as much as it scared everyone else.

"Really, it just came so fast, I didn’t have time to react. I didn’t even realize I was bleeding until people around me started screaming and saying that I was bleeding," said Mullan, 16.

Once the initial bandages, put on at the field, were removed, her head didn’t even hurt.

"In the ambulance and at Sinai (Hospital), my head was wrapped up so tight and it was throbbing. When they took it off, I felt OK."

Friday evening, she went from Sinai to St. Joseph’s hospital where a plastic surgeon stitched her forehead. By 11 p.m., she was on her way home.

Her face remains swollen, but doctors have cleared the junior defender to play as early as this afternoon’s game at Archbishop Spalding, said Garrison coach Traci Davis. However, Davis said she does not plan to play Mullan today. It’s just too soon despite the medical clearance, said the coach.

Mullan, however, is undaunted and ready to get back on the field: "Maybe she’ll change her mind."

Two other Grizzlies players, who had breathing problems during Friday’s game are fine, said Davis. Sarah Krolus had a severe asthma attack and was taken to the hospital by ambulance, and Davis’s daughter, Cody Magness, sat out late in the game struggling to catch her breath. Krolus returned to Garrison and Magness was breathing easily by the time the game ended.

"I just think for Sarah and Cody, that was a little anxiety brought on by watching Bayley take that shot," said Davis.

For the No. 1 Grizzlies, who lost Friday’s game 3-1 to No. 5 Fallston, two of their top league rivals are up next with No. 7 Spalding today and No. 6 Bryn Mawr tomorrow.

Mullan said the Grizzlies are ready to move on and leave Friday’s experienced behind them.

"We all agreed how bizarre of a game it was," she said. "We concluded that we can look back at that game as a bonding experience. It brought us together. If we can get through that game, we can get through anything."

-- Katherine Dunn