SOUTH DEERFIELD — The flip switched for the Frontier Regional field hockey team midway through the second quarter on Wednesday.
Following a scoreless 25 minutes against Athol, the Red Hawks turned the heat up, peppering Red Raider keeper Sam Kenniff with challenging shots.
Kenniff kept a clean sheet into the half, but Frontier kept its foot on the gas throughout the second half and scored four times to earn a 4-0 victory.
“We changed up our system a little bit,” Red Hawks coach Missy Mahar said. “We were overloading too much and not creating the passing lanes that we needed to. Once we made some changes and freed up some players to be able to move and recognized the open passing lanes, then we capitalized on giving the lead passes and allowing our forwards to come in. Even though there’s a lot of space out there, it was too clumped. They made those changes and allowed themselves to have space and create opportunities that weren’t there.”
Emily DeMaio scored twice for Frontier, with Devyn Prusak and Rebecca Wallace-West also lighting up the scoreboard.
In a year where adaptability is key, Mahar was pleased to see her team respond after getting off to a stagnant start on the offensive end. Adjusting on the fly is never easy, but the Red Hawks were able to do it, changing strategies to get better looks at the goal.
“The girls are doing such a great job because I’m constantly changing things,” Mahar said. “What they think we’re going to do for one game, we might not do for the next. It depends on our opposition and what their strengths are and what system we need to run to be competitive and come out on top. The girls are doing a great job of adapting to what system we’re playing game-to-game because I keep changing it as things change.”
It took the Red Hawks 15 seconds into the second half to take the lead. Prusak raced down the field and got inside the Athol circle. Driving to the left, the senior fired a cross-crease pass to DeMaio, who tapped it into the open cage.
The quick goal woke up the Frontier offense.
“After getting a goal, any team comes to life,” Mahar said. “Getting that early on in the third quarter was what we needed. It’s what we talked about at halftime and they delivered.”
The Red Hawks kept up the pressure and were rewarded with 7:28 to play in the third. Wallace-West had the ball in the circle and, similar to the first goal, rifled a pass from the left to right side of the cage where Prusak was there to put it home and give Frontier a 2-0 lead.
“We were motivated to get our passes going,” DeMaio said. “We started connecting on them. In the second half we got it back. We established ourselves.”
The Red Raider defense held strong the remainder of the quarter, as Kenniff came up with a few key saves to keep the game within striking distance, but the Athol offense was never able to establish a rhythm to get back in the game.
With 13:56 to play in the game, DeMaio drove strong to the cage and fired a shot on goal that was stopped by Kenniff. The deflection came off her pad right to a wide-open Wallace West, who blasted the rebound home to make it 3-0.
DeMaio closed out the scoring with a great shot in traffic to make it 4-0 with 11:36 left.