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The Winchester High girls field hockey team (19-3) has reached the Division 1 state semifinal game after winning its first three state tournament games against Arlington (3-1), the 28th seed, Bishop Feehan (2-1), the 12th seed, and fourth-seeded Lincoln-Sudbury (1-0).
The fifth-seeded Red & Black are now scheduled to go up against Walpole (19-1-1, top seed) Wednesday night (Nov. 12) in the state semifinal game at Westborough High School, starting at 5 p.m.
In the playoff opener against Arlington on Nov. 1, senior Samantha Gal scored the first goal from Julia Fredey in the opening quarter. Gal scored again in the second quarter, with an assist going to Joyce Chen.
Later on in the period, the Spy Ponders narrowed the gap to one. But Chen got it back before halftime on a solo effort.
Coach Michelle White mentioned after the Arlington game that goalie Isabella Bogovich helped solidify the win by coming up with “one great save,” which could have changed momentum around in a hurry.
Bishop Feehan was up next four days later on Nov. 4 at Knowlton, once again. Chen scored the first goal of the game in the second quarter from Fredey. Sophomore Ellie Drake followed that up by scoring an amazing unassisted goal, according to White, in the final quarter that sealed the deal.
The visiting Shamrocks, however, weren’t giving up after that play. They were able to trim the Winchester lead in half in the closing minutes, but the home team was able to hang on to move on to the Elite 8 against the host Warriors. Bogovich came up with five saves to once again nail down another win.
White understands that the further a team goes in the postseason the competition gets tougher, while adding after the Bishop Feehan game, “we just have to keep on playing our best field hockey in order to win (from this point on).”
And the Red & Black did so after surviving the close, competitive battle at Lincoln-Sudbury last Saturday. The visitors scored the lone goal of the game in a shootout, and as a result the Winchester girls were able to bring home a trophy and the state semifinalist banner. But they obviously want more, and a win over aforementioned Walpole on Wednesday night will give them that opportunity.
Boys soccer falls in the Sweet 16
The boys soccer team (11-4-4, 28th seed) won two postseason games, before getting upended by Brookline, the 21st seed, 3-2 in a Sweet 16 Division 1 game.
The Red & Black first shutout Andover in the preliminary round, 1-0, which set the stage for the upset over host New Bedford, the fifth seed, in the Round of 32, 2-1.
“We played very well in the Andover game against a red-hot keeper, who stopped everything we threw at him for over 90 minutes,” said Coach Vin Musto. “While we controlled the majority of the game, it wasn't until the 93rd minute that senior Ean Errico was able to head the ball home after taking a corner from Adam O’Riordan.”
It was the team’s final home game of the year at Knowlton, where it never lost this fall. The win over Andover also extended the winning streak to 11.
Girls soccer experiences similar fate
After beating visiting Beverly in Double OT in the Division 1 Round of 32 on Nov. 5, 3-2, the girls soccer team (15-3-2, seventh seed) was shutout by Concord-Carlisle (10-5-5, 10th seed) also at home in the Sweet 16 game last Saturday (Nov. 8), 1-0.
In the playoff opener against the Panthers, the team’s second goal of the first half was scored by junior forward Sophie Shapiro on a sweet through pass from senior captain Juliet Semmes. Shapiro then proceeded to beat a Beverly defender, before sliding her low shot past the keeper.
Freshman forward Rhynn Fitzpatrick-Cannfield knocked Winchester’s first goal home after calmly getting a corner kick under control, before taking the shot on net.
The Winchester girls seemingly were comfortably in front of the 26th-ranked Panthers at halftime, 2-0, but the visitors refused to quit, bouncing back to tie up the proceedings at the end of regulation to set the stage for freshman Ashley Mitchell’s clutch score in the second overtime period after taking a pass from Shapiro.
“Beverly played very hard, and pressured for every loose ball,” said coach Michelle Ross. “They really challenged us, which forced us to adjust our tactics. The Beverly keeper, in particular, made some amazing saves to keep her team close on the scoreboard.”
The Winchester coach then went on to say, “it’s nice to get that first game behind us after a long nine-day break. But it was also good that many of our players were able to get their first taste of the postseason, and they really stepped up.”
Of the 17 underclassmen on the varsity roster, eight are only freshmen, while at the other end of the spectrum there are just six seniors, including captains Gaby Hermsdorf, Lilly Ossen, Amanda Mitchell and Semmes. Their two goalies – junior Amelia Burke and sophomore Kendall McCarthy – are also among those underclassmen
It looks like this program is only going to get better as this young group will continue to be among one of the best in the entire state, not to just in the Middlesex League.
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News last November.
