WILBRAHAM – Coming into Monday’s Western Mass. Class B field hockey final, Belchertown had confidence it was a good team. But against No. 2 East Longmeadow, a team that remained undefeated throughout most of the regular season, the Orioles knew they couldn’t just settle for being good.
They had to be great.
“We’re either gonna play a great game and lose or we’re gonna play an amazing game and win,” Belchertown goalie Eliza Rothstein said.
Belchertown and East Longmeadow dueled back and forth all evening long, forcing overtime after a scoreless 60 minutes of regulation. With 15 seconds left in the first overtime, top-seeded Belchertown earned a corner attempt that senior Lauren Cooper went out to take.
“I take it to the side, shake my hands, feeling the nerves,” Cooper said. “I just pass it up to the top, Abby (Olden) somehow gets it, does a little dodge, and then all of a sudden it comes straight toward me and I tip it right in as the goalie goes down.”
The clock had run out when Cooper finally slammed the ball past East Longmeadow goalie Natalie Merrick, the sound echoing as her team rushed out to tackle her and celebrate their victory; the title was Belchertown’s first field hockey Western Mass. championship in program history.
“The sound – beautiful,” Cooper said. “I’ll never forget it.”
Cooper got credit for the goal and Olden picked up the assist for Belchertown. Meanwhile, Rothstein was a wall in net for the Orioles, making 12 saves in regulation and overtime. In addition to Rothstein’s outstanding performance, Karyna Rondeau made a couple of goal-line stops serving as a backup defender for Rothstein, and the team’s defense stepped up in a major way, especially in the first half when the Spartans had all the momentum.
“Karyna is always back there doing the most. Defense was a big help this game – I don’t think we could have done it without them,” Cooper said. “Honestly, Eliza had amazing saves throughout the whole game. I think everybody just played really well.”
While most of the Belchertown team and fans probably would have prefered a more comfortable victory, head coach Lindsay Wright said she enjoyed the dramatic turn of events.
“I actually like overtime. I was looking forward to it. I’m happy to wait till the end of the game and play some overtime, because we practice those things,” Wright said. “We practice shootouts, we practice every seven (versus) seven. I would rather hold off and win or lose in overtime.”
The game was a tale of two halves. Belchertown came out hard in the beginning of the first quarter, but in the last 20 minutes or so of the opening half, it was all East Longmeadow. Getting out of the first half still tied 0-0 felt like a relief; Rothstein had already made six saves while East Longmeadow’s Merrick had to make just one.
Once the Orioles started the third quarter, the team looked much more composed, controlling most of the play and getting several good opportunities that East Longmeadow managed to thwart. The story was much the same during overtime, which was played with seven players a side, opening up much more room on the field. It still took until the dying seconds for Belchertown to score; the goal was the first time that either Belchertown or East Longmeadow allowed a goal against the other this season after tying 0-0 during the regular season.
The win was also a full-circle moment for some of the seniors on the team. When they were freshmen, Belchertown lost to South Hadley in the Western Mass. quarterfinals in a 7-on-7 overtime. When they went to OT again on Monday, it sent shivers down some of their spines, remembering how they’d fallen in similar fashion just a few years earlier. This time, they were able to reverse the curse and secure the win.
“It feels great,” Cooper said on the championship win. “We have the perfect team this year. I can’t imagine anyone better to be playing with.”
The ride continues later in the week, when the seeds and brackets for the MIAA Tournaments will be released.