EAGLE SENIOR PADEN Lathrop and Brattleboro’s Jasmin Thibault chase after the ball during the Mount Abe field hockey team’s home playoff game on Tuesday.
Independent photo/Steve James
BRISTOL — The Mount Abraham field hockey team and their coach believed their tough Division I Metro Conference schedule would prepare them for the D-II playoffs. In Tuesday’s first-round D-II playoff game the No. 8 Eagles looked like the better team than visiting No. 9 Brattleboro.
But despite carrying most of the play and earning 15 penalty corners to two for Brattleboro, the Eagles failed to score. And it was the Bears who took advantage of one of their few opportunities and found the back of the cage in an early fourth-quarter scramble to win, 1-0.
The Bears improved to 4-10-1 and advanced to a quarterfinal against top seed Hartford, while the Eagles finished up at 2-13 against their more challenging schedule.
MOUNT ABE MIDDIE Louisa Guilmette wins the ball from a Brattleboro player at midfield during the Eagle field hockey team’s home playoff game on Tuesday.
Independent photo/Steve James
Coach Jen Myers said the Eagles were shorthanded due to injuries and illnesses on Tuesday, and she praised her team’s effort, as well that of the Bears.
“Tough one. We were not a full strength, unfortunately,” Myers said. “Not to discredit Brattleboro. We were hoping with our sustained pressure we could pop one in, too. But it didn’t happen today. My group gave everything it had, for sure. I couldn’t be prouder of their effort, right to the very end.”
Neither team gained much offensive traction in the first quarter, although Eagle freshman forward Nora Hurlburt and senior midfielder Isabelle Anderson applied pressure down the right side. Brattleboro, in the meantime, established a pattern of hitting long and hoping for the best. The Eagle back line of seniors Addy Nezin and Bella Hartwell and sophomore Lux Tierney erased the occasional Bear foray.
The Eagles started to threaten in the second period. Hurlburt and senior forward Lexy Perlee made strong runs early, and Perlee’s drew a penalty corner. On the corner Hurlburt deflected a serve just wide of the right post; it was the first shot attempt for either team.
The Bears’ first threat came shortly afterward. Forward Basma Rifaiy carried into the circle, but Tierney broke up the play. Eagle sophomore goalie Reagan Lafreniere also kicked away a ball sent into the circle and denied a bid by Anastasia Moshovetis, who picked up the loose ball. That proved to be one of only two Bear shots on goal — the first ball sent in was on goal, but not a shot because it came from outside the scoring circle.
BRATTLEBORO GOALIE ERICKA Fletcher makes a blocker save on Eagle freshman Nora Hurlburt during the Mount Abe field hockey team’s home playoff game on Tuesday.
Independent photo/Steve James
At the other end Hurlburt got off a shot on an Eagle corner late in the period, but didn’t get good wood on it, and Bear goalie Ericka Fletcher turned it aside. She finished with four stops.
The Eagles pressured for most of the third period, and Fletcher made two more saves on Hurlburt. The tide began to turn late in the period, when the Bears earned both of their penalty corners. Hurlburt and Allenson disrupted one, and Bear Destiny Thibault fired wide left on the other.
The Bears kept coming early in the third and took the lead at 13:17 on a Mary Cady strike. Jasmin Thibault sent the ball into a knot of players to the right of the goal, and Leah Lane won it and crossed for the Cady tap-in.
The Eagles responded by dominating the rest of the game, including by earning seven penalty corners. But they managed only one more shot on goal, that by senior Lily Case, and Fletcher kicked it away. Bear back Elina Young also broke up two corners.
MOUNT ABE SENIOR forward Paden Lathrop gains possession of the ball and heads upfield during the Eagle field hockey team’s home playoff game on Tuesday.
Independent photo/Steve James
Finally the Eagles had one more corner as time expired. But the insert hopped over an Eagle stick and rolled past the 30-yard line to end the game and the Mount Abe field hockey season.
Stetson said she had no issues with the Eagles’ attitude or work ethic from start to finish.
“They are a hard-working bunch. They do everything that’s asked of them. They change positions on the fly as I’m subbing people in and out,” she said. “And they just accept it with grace and ask what’s next. And I can’t ask more of a group.”
