HOLYOKE — For a few minutes in the second half of Monday’s Western Massachusetts Division 2 semifinal, the stars aligned for the South Hadley field hockey team.
Holding a one-goal lead with time ticking away, the fourth-seeded Tigers could see the finish line and a potential upset of two-time defending champion and top-seeded Greenfield.
But seniors Raegan Hickey and Audrey Bresciano came through for Greenfield. Bresciano tied the game with 11 minutes, 36 seconds to play and Hickey buried the game-winner just over three minutes later to send the Green Wave to the sectional final with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory at a rain-soaked Roberts Sports Complex.
“This was a huge team effort,” South Hadley coach Tara Cole said of her club, which finished the season 12-6-2 record. “We’ve been in this position before, semifinals, unfortunately we came out on the wrong side of it again but it wasn’t for a lack of effort or a lack of heart. The girls rose to the occasion. We knew it was going to be a battle and it was.”
No. 1 Greenfield (18-2) will meet No. 3 Frontier (12-5-3) Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at East Longmeadow High School for the title. The Wave have beaten Frontier each of the past two seasons in the championship game.
“We definitely came out flat today,” Greenfield coach Erin Thayer said. “I’m not sure why. I think playing a team three times is a tough feat but they never gave up. They fought through until the end and did what they had to do to get by.”
South Hadley senior Kayla Carleton broke a scoreless drought with 18:10 remaining in the second half. Corryn Moroney broke through the defense, forcing Samantha Smith to charge hard from the Greenfield goal. Smith slid to break up the play, but Carleton was right there to pounce on the rebound. She scooped the ball up, dribbled the final 10 yards into a vacant cage, and made no doubt about it from close range to give her team the 1-0 advantage.
“We’ve been working a lot on the give-and-go scenarios,” Cole said. “If the keeper goes down, what do we have to do. (The goal) was exhilarating. They were floored, I was floored, the coaching staff was floored to go up and take a lead like that.”
For nearly seven minutes, it seemed like Carleton’s tally would send South Hadley through to its first final since 2009. But with 11:36 to play, Bresciano tallied the equalizer to give Greenfield new life. Maddy Kuchieski pushed a square pass in tight space to Bresciano in front of the South Hadley goal. The senior came through, blasting a shot through traffic for a 1-1 tie.
Just 3:26 later, Hickey came through with the game-winner. After Greenfield called a timeout to set up a corner, Hickey and Bresciano worked a give-and-go, with Hickey winding up with the ball on her stick for a blast that gave the Wave a 2-1 lead.
South Hadley goalkeeper Brooke Blair (eight saves) played well early, as the Tigers withstood a first-half barrage from Greenfield before the squad found its legs midway through the frame. They nearly got on the board with 11:15 remaining in the first half, as the tandem of Taylor Gelinas and Gabi Moroney broke in on Smith. The senior dove to cut down the angle, stymying the transition attempt.
The momentum stayed with the Tigers the rest of the half. They won a corner just before halftime, with Corryn Moroney the prime scoring threat on the play. On the ensuing corner, Gelinas’ blast missed just wide to the outside of the cage, but South Hadley was charged up entering the break scoreless.
Not bad from a team that lost twice by a combined score of 13-3 to Greenfield in the regular season.
“I think playoffs and postseason brings its own kind of energy to the team,” Cole said. “We’ve been here many times in the postseason so the girls know how it feels. Playoffs brings its own energy and it kind of erases everything that’s happened before. Everybody has a ticket in and you want to keep your ticket going. That kind of energy continues and helps to propel them.”
Hickey scored three goals against South Hadley during the regular season.
“We knew that we haven’t seen the best South Hadley play yet but we weren’t quite expecting this,” she said. “They came out ready to play.”
Cole said Monday’s score and game were much more indicative of the type of team she had this season than the two regular-season matchups with Greenfield.
“It was a true postseason semifinal game,” she said. “It was a battle to get to the final game and that’s exactly what it should be so I’m really proud of our team for giving (Greenfield) that.”
It was the last game for South Hadley seniors Gelinas, Blair, Olivia Wilson, Kelly Clare, Carleton, Emma Rahilly, Savannah Sudyka and Abbie Carey.