Westwood pulls off overtime upset over Masconomet

DANVERS Westwood field hockey head coach Heather Joyce due for her second child on November explained her company amid a - - start that if it reached the Div state final she d give him the middle name Flahive after the association s home turf Now a week away from her due date Joyce thinks the girls are messing with her A thrilling defensive grind Thursday night ended seconds into overtime with sophomore Ellie Harrington s game-winning goal propelling the th-seeded Wolverines - - to a - second-round win over No Masconomet Westwood often regressed back to the scoring struggles that plagued it early in the year but it hastily flipped the switch in sudden-death overtime to secure its eighth straight win The Wolverines advance to their first Div state quarterfinal appearance since set to play No Nashoba on Saturday at p m Masconomet threatened several times to advance itself but its unbeaten season ends at - - I didn t go into labor so that s good they were seeing how far they could push it Joyce mentioned Certainly we scored I didn t feel like we were ourselves tonight if I m being honest and I was kind of frustrated We I thought kept getting in our own way So then to see them kind of unleash in overtime it was so nice to see because that s how they look when they re not frantic and play on instinct Sound passing and communication anchored numerous promising transitions into the attacking for Westwood but a scrappy Chieftains defensive effort held it without a shot on goal all second half That changed very fleetly into overtime though as senior Bridget Hughes maintained possession just outside the circle despite heavy defensive pressure carrying it from the left wing to the right before delivering a strong send across her body to the backdoor post Harrington got the touch Westwood missed all challenge tipping in the game-winner I was just kind of waiting for it to come I could trust my organization to get the ball to where it should be Harrington reported I had a good feeling it was going to play out like that It feels really good especially because we were the lower seed The little moments we weren t executing earlier Joyce added I m glad that we executed the little moment at the end Frustration built a bit for the group not finishing several opportunities it felt it could ve executed in the second half The Wolverines weren t overwhelming the Chieftains with pressure as Masconomet generated numerous breakouts for promising transitions into the attacking half behind star scorer Ava Gauvain Mia Marques and midfielder Genevieve Clapp Hannah Mitchell Savannah Stevens and Ella Mossey were solid on defense to prevent any damage in the circle too and get those transitions started But Westwood knew it had chances to jump ahead needing just one more touch in a encounter that very well could have gone the other way Players understood the urgency and carried that into overtime I think everyone was just like We need to change a scant things up Harrington declared Just keep getting shots up keep having confidence because if you lose it then you re definitely going to lose the challenge Smart passing and communication were at the forefront of the pressure Westwood kept applying even getting four shots on goal in the first half that Masconomet s Sabrina Cafarelli made good plays on to save Sometimes that progression up the field left room to run in transition for Masconomet which it exploited with several bursts But a standout showing from sophomore Ciara Shevory and the whole defense in front of goalie Moira Kenneally two saves won a large number of one-on-one battles to limit what the Chieftains could do I ve got specific good defenders we ve got a few really talented players Joyce declared Of program it helps that we have Kenneally in net We re able to do that because we so trust Kenneally She makes the saves she s smart in there Having a goalie you can trust that gives the confidence to the defense and the rest of the company as well Joyce feels the pressure is off her group as it heads to the state quarterfinals as the underdog Harrington sees confidence among teammates against an unbeaten Nashoba Westwood feels good about where it s at Company bonding getting to know everyone more has gone into the streak Harrington noted We changed our lineup I think that really helped And we all just kind of got a lot closer toward the end and I think that s helped us connect on the field a bit more We all just had confidence in ourselves and trusted everyone else