HOLYOKE — Amherst Regional coach Michelle Risch stood on the sideline with her hands on her hips as the final minutes ticked off the clock Tuesday.
The fourth-seeded Hurricanes were trailing top-seeded Longmeadow by three goals in the Western Massachusetts Division 1 Field Hockey semifinals.
With around a minute to go, Risch turned to one of her assistant coaches, then to her players on the field.
“I’m so proud of them,” she said.
The Hurricanes fell to the six-time reigning sectional champions, 4-1, at Roberts Field. Elena Humbeck scored Amherst’s lone goal. Zora Dallmann had the assist.
The last time the Hurricanes (13-4-2) played the Lancers (15-2-2) was three years ago. Longmeadow won the game, 16-0, and Amherst didn’t win a game that entire season.
“Four years ago we were at ground zero,” Risch said. “We talk about it being a marathon and not a sprint. This game was breaking through the finish line. We broke through the tape tonight. … Now it’s got to be a steady, strong path moving forward. You don’t get to go back from here. When you show up like (we) did tonight, you don’t get to take a step back. … I can’t be more proud of them.”
Longmeadow opened the scoring with 20 minutes to go in the first half. Sarah Chamberlain took a hard, low shot from the point off a penalty corner and scored.
The Hurricanes had issues early in the game breaking through the Lancers’ midfield and turned the ball over on potential offensive breaks.
Longmeadow scored again with 12 minutes to go in the half off a deflected shot from Ainsley Yorns to go up 2-0.
Although the Hurricanes had issues stringing passes together in the first half, the team did an overall solid job bending but not breaking on defense throughout the game.
Amherst goalkeeper Lydia Sullivan came up with key saves throughout the match to keep the Lancers off the board. She finished the game with nine saves.
“Lydia Sullivan had an outrageous night,” Risch said. “For her to be calm and poised and moving the way she did – she started playing goalie as a ninth grader. The last few years she has developed and become a rock-solid anchor to our defense.”
The Hurricanes had a great look on goal with 24 minutes to go in the second half off a penalty corner, but Longmeadow flooded the front of the net with players, stopped the attack, and initiated an offensive break going the other way.
Five minutes later, the Lancers’ Riley Harrington made a defender miss and scored from the right side to increase the lead to 3-0.
Amherst switched up its defensive strategy for the latter part of the second half. Instead of creating angles that forced Longmeadow to pass into tight areas, the team elected to double and triple team the ball carrier at the top of the formation to potentially create turnovers and initiate breaks.
The strategy kept the Lancers from scoring again in open play, but Longmeadow picked up three straight penalty corners late in the half and converted on the last one with a goal from Olivia Cunningham to go up 4-0 with eight minutes to go.
“We pinched the middle a little bit more defensively than we normally do to slow down their phenomenal middle of the field ball movement,” Risch said on the Hurricanes’ defensive game plan. “We did a bit of overloading. We have worked really hard on our marking for the last three of four weeks. It has been a major focus.”
Humbeck scored the Hurricanes’ lone goal off a penalty corner with four minutes to go. Dallmann corralled the ball up top and settled it. As the ball rolled toward Humbeck, she unleashed a high shot that went into the top-left corner of the cage.
Amherst players on the field and on the bench leaped into the air once the ball smacked against the back of the cage. Although the game’s outcome was all but official, the goal had a different meaning and effect on the team.
“We were just so proud of that goal,” Dallmann said. “It was such a good shot. We haven’t played Longmeadow since our freshman year and they beat us 16-0. We haven’t played them since then. The fact we scored against them, we were just so excited.”
To Risch, the team’s joy after the goal, even with so little time left for a comeback, spoke to how prepared the team was to play a complete game.
“They played 60 minutes of field hockey,” Risch said. “They didn’t let up for a single minute. Were there mental errors? Sure. Is there a moment where someone didn’t hustle for a loose ball? Yeah, but I’m not talking about that. As a team, they were on that field giving 100 percent for 60 minutes. … The reason that ball went into the net is because they stayed after it for 60 minutes.”
After the game, Risch gathered the team into a huddle. She expressed that each player should be proud of what they had accomplished, but above all, that the game wasn’t the end of the road for the program.
“There is a bunch of them that have a lot of field experience now,” Risch said. “Most of them don’t have deep roots in competitive athletics. It’s opportunities like this that help them take the next step forward. … I can’t be more proud of them.”
The team will graduate six seniors at the end of the year. Many of them are excited to come back in the future to help coach at games and continue to build the program.
“We have been in the playoffs three times now and the score that we lose by has gone down each time,” Sullivan said. “We’re excited to see (the team) win, because it’s going to happen.”