Frontier returns with a bang
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SOUTH DEERFIELD - The Frontier Regional field hockey team made its reappearance in the postseason successful as it controlled play for most of the game in a Western Massachusetts Division 2 quarterfinal win over Palmer Thursday afternoon.
It took just seven minutes, four seconds for Jess Zewski to score for the Red Hawks who went on to a 4-0 victory.
No. 2 Frontier (14-3-2) advances to the semifinals at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley where it will play No. 3 South Hadley (11-5-3) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Tigers defeated No. 6 Mohawk 1-0 in another quarterfinal on Thursday.
The Panthers finished their season at 8-8-1.
The Hawks' last trip to the postseason came in 2005, when they defeated Greenfield in the championship game to win the sectional title before losing 3-0 to Quaboag Regional in the state semifinals.
After a three-year absence from the tournament, Frontier proved it earned its second seed by outshooting Palmer 19-2.
"This is the first time that we've been in the tournament since we started playing on varsity so it feels really good," senior midfielder Lacie Judge said. "Our defense was really strong today and it feels really good - it's a big accomplishment."
The Hawks came out in the first half and went right to work on the offensive end. They got their first goal when Zewski collected a rebound of a shot by Kacey Roberts that went off the pads of Panthers goaltender Julie Hurley. Zewski, who was positioned on the left post, wristed the ball into an empty cage for the early lead.
"A lot of it is the right positioning, being in the right place at the right time," said Zewski, who scored 15 goals during the regular season. "It's huge to get that early goal but you can't depend on that one goal to get you through the entire game."
Palmer responded with an increased intensity and began to control play, causing Frontier coach Missy Mahar to take a time-out.
The Panthers' best chance came with 10 minutes left in the half when Hawks netminder Bridget Stryszko (two saves) was forced to make a kick save on a blast from 10 yards out.
Frontier finally regained control with five minutes remaining in the half and got the ball back down to the Palmer defensive end. That paid off when Emily Williams' hit down the left side of the field went off a Panther defender and in front of the net to Roberts who buried a laser beam past a startled Hurley (15 saves).
"We started off a little slower in the first half but at halftime we went over a few things to change ... and I think we came out and played well in the second half," Judge said. "We moved the ball down the field well and our defense was really strong today."
The Hawks dominated much of the second half. After applying pressure from the onset, Judge found Kayla Sharpe at the top of the arc and the senior slapped a shot that deflected off a Panther defender and past Hurley.
Frontier's defense did the job from there, holding Palmer attackers at bay before Zewski sealed the win with an unassisted goal with 16:33 left. Mahar said she was happy with the effort put forth by the Red hawk defenders.
