AGAWAM — Heading into the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Field Hockey Tournament, Frontier Regional faced a different kind of opponent — mononucleosis.
The debilitating illness took away Frontier’s leading scorer, McKenzie Patterson, for the playoffs.
Without Patterson, the No. 2-seeded Red Hawks beat No. 3 South Hadley 1-0 in the semifinals on Tuesday night at Agawam High School.
“We needed the midfield to have an offensive push,” Frontier coach Missy Mahar said. “Kenz brings power, experience and goal scoring opportunities. You can’t replace experience, but the forwards that are in there are willing to do what they can to score goals.”
Frontier (14-1-4) advanced to play No. 1 Greenfield (16-0-3) for a sectional title Friday at West Springfield High. Greenfield beat Southwick 5-0 in the other semifinal.
“They have an experienced team,” Mahar said. “Players that are elite scorers. They have all the makes of a number one seed. We’ll reflect on what we need to do better to compete with them without Kenzy.”
The Red Hawks have a loss and a tie to Greenfield this season. They are gunning for their third straight Western Mass. title and seventh overall under Mahar.
Frontier scored with 9 minutes, 51 seconds left in the half and made it stand. Off a penalty corner by Emma Wesoloski, senior Ashley Borkowski smacked a shot past South Hadley goalie Brittany Cote.
Borkowski and Patterson were a dynamic offensive tandem all year. With Patterson out for Friday against Greenfield, the team will look to Borkowski for experience on offense.”
“I am really used to having her there,” Borkowski said. “But it’s also fun playing with other people. The biggest challenge was that I always know where she is on the field, and she wasn’t there.”
Patterson watched bundled up from the sidelines.
“I know she’s really sad that she can’t play,” Borkowski said. “She’s proud of us. She wanted to play.”
South Hadley (8-9-3) had a difficult time generating offense against midfielder Camille Alli and the leader of Frontier’s defense, Celia Speth.
Frontier carried most of the play in South Hadley’s end, outside of a brief period before halftime.
Hannah Menard made a few nice surges for the Tigers and Cote made six saves in net.
“I think both teams played an incredible game of hockey,” South Hadley coach Tara Cole said. “We knew Frontier was going to be fast so we went in blind.”
Seniors Sarah Lacey, Isabella Patruno, Hannah Ziomek, Sarah Shea, Kate O’Neil and Menard played their last game for South Hadley.
“I am really proud of them,” Cole said. “Not every team gets to the semifinals. Not every team gets to the playoffs. They left no regrets on the field.”
Skyla Burniske made two saves to record the shutout for Frontier, including a big kick save just as the second half began.
