PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Marblehead’s Hadley Carlton has the ball knocked away by Swampscott’s Sydney Cresta.
MARBLEHEAD — With an exciting 1-0 win in the rain over Swampscott on Thursday, the Marblehead field hockey team locked up the Northeastern Conference title at Piper Field for Marblehead’s Senior Night.
“I thought the girls played well today,” said Marblehead coach Linda Rice Collins. “I liked their speed and aggressiveness as well as the quick passing all game long. And then the defense really stood tall when they needed to. It was a great team effort.”
“We played alright today, we could’ve played better,” said Swampscott coach Jamie Spano. “It’s not an excuse, but we haven’t played a game on turf in a while so there was a bit of a transition there, and Marblehead really brought it today.”
The lone goal came with just over six minutes remaining in the game when Anna Behrens snatched up a loose ball and fired it into the back of the net. The goal came after an entire game of close calls and barely-missed scoring chances for the Magicians (14-1-3).
The first half was as back-and-forth as you’ll see. Swampscott (6-3-6) opened up early and came right out with several scoring chances, including a few corners. But it was the Marblehead defense that stood up to the test and only allowed a few shots on goal, all saved by Marblehead goalie Maddie Miller.
“I think we came out really strong, but then we started settling for things,” said Spano. “I think we ended up losing focus a bit in the second half as well, and that’s when they struck.”
Marblehead was also able to get some shots on net in the first half, coming close on several corner opportunities, but the Magicians couldn’t knock one into the net.
Marblehead started to take control in the second half after making a couple of adjustments at halftime.
“We talked about what (Swampscott’s) gameplan was at halftime and made the adjustments,” said Rice Collins. “We knew they were trying to push things to the outside, so we knew where to adjust and we executed it well.”
The adjustments led to a number of corner opportunities for the Magicians throughout the second half, but the lone goal of the game surprisingly didn’t come on a corner. Following a failed corner attempt with about 6:30 left in the game, Behrens corralled a bouncing ball about 10 yards out and fired a shot at the net. The ball managed to squeeze its way through several Swampscott defenders on its way to the net, and the Swampscott goalie simply couldn’t react quickly enough once the ball came into view.
Following the goal, Swampscott pushed the pace hard to try to walk away with at least a tie, but the Marblehead defense stood firm.
Both teams have now completed their respective regular seasons, and they’ll each await the state tournament pairings that will be released on Monday.
“We can’t wait,” said Rice Collins. “We’re just going to see what happens and take it from there.”
“We’re just going to wait around for the pairings,” said Spano, “and practice a ton on turf this week.”