HATFIELD — Karlie Guimond scored an overtime winner 2 minutes, 20 seconds into the extra period, and the Smith Academy field hockey team beat Turners Falls 1-0 in the Western Massachusetts Division 2 quarterfinals Wednesday.
The second-seeded Falcons will host No. 3 Greenfield at 6 p.m. Monday in the semifinals.
“I said from the beginning that this playoffs any team can rise to the occasion,” Smith coach Dena Polverari said. “It was definitely a nail-biter.”
The score stood at 0-0 at the end of regulation. In overtime, the Falcons wrestled control of the ball for the majority of the time until Guimond broke through with a one-on-one opportunity against Turners goalie Haleigh Green and put the ball into the back of the net to send Smith through.
“I was on autopilot,” Guimond said. “I saw that it was just a one-on-one with me and the goalie, and she can only cover so much space. She’s a great goalie, Haleigh (Green) – I’ve played with her before – but I knew that I just needed to find that left corner and I did just that.”
The Falcons (16-0-3) seemed more comfortable when play advanced to 7-on-7. The field had more space and it allowed the players the freedom to pass the ball around easier.
“It’s funny because I have players on the team, even on 11 v 11, that I want to be on the attacking part of the field but I have them at mid,” Polverari said. “When we went to 7-on-7, it actually created more space for our players to use their ball-handling skills and I think we do better with more space than we do with 11 v 11 sometimes just because they love to maneuver the ball and they see each other better. Everyone just took a deep breath and was calm and collected and had a lot of confidence heading into that overtime.”
The Thunder (9-6-1) pressured Smith offensively in the game’s early stages. The Falcons later wrestled control away and applied strong pressure in their attacking opportunities. Smith thought it scored a goal midway through the first half off of a corner, but it was ruled out due to the ball not leaving the circle area around the goal.
After surviving multiple corner opportunities by the Thunder, Smith managed to get another great look at goal but the ball hit the post and rolled on the line, not past it, so the goal was not counted.
The semi-final trip is a return to prominence for the Smith Academy field hockey program. Once a powerhouse in Western Massachusetts, the program hadn’t made the previous thee postseasons, finishing 4-11-3 last season. A move to the Bi-County Leauge from the Valley League coincided with a reemergence in the program.
“We really stressed working hard in the offseason,” Guimond said. “This summer, we worked really hard. We worked with former Olympian Judy Strong to get better. We practiced and practiced and ultimately, that helped us succeed this season.”
The trip to the semi-finals pins the Falcons against former Valley League rivals Greenfield, who are coming off of an 8-2 win over Southwick in a quarter-finals matchup.