South Hadley edges Frontier in thriller
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SOUTH HADLEY - Meghan McClaflin made sure that the South Hadley field hockey team would not miss out on its third shot at making the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament championship game.
After the third-seeded Tigers battled No. 2 Frontier Regional for 89 minutes, 50.6 seconds, McClaflin fired a close-range shot that found its way through the pads of Red Hawk goalie Bridget Stryszko to give the Tigers a 3-2, double-overtime win in the semifinals Wednesday night at Mount Holyoke College.
South Hadley (12-5-3) advanced to play No. 1 Smith Academy (18-2) for the championship at either 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. at Mount Holyoke.
Frontier ended its season at 14-4-2.
Locked in a 2-2 tie through the end of regulation, the two teams went to a pair of 15-minute, seven-on-seven players, sudden death overtimes. Despite numerous chances in the first 15 minutes - including a five-minute man advantage for the Tigers after Kayla Sharpe of the Red Hawks was issued a yellow card - neither team was able to score and the game went to a second overtime.
In the second overtime, South Hadley goalie Mic Boyer made five saves to keep her team even and set up the late-game heroics by McClaflin. With penalty strokes looming as time wound down, South Hadley forward Lida Hills pushed the ball out of a scrum to the right of Stryszko (15 saves) and onto the stick of McClaflin, who pushed the ball through the goalies' pads and into the net for the game winner.
"After Lida passed the ball, I just got it and it went through her pads," an exhausted McClaflin said. "It was really hard. It was definitely a team effort and I could not have done it without the other girls on the team."
South Hadley coach Tara Cole said that with so much open field in the overtime and a number of exhausted players, it simply came down to who wanted it more.
"The girls know what it's like to get this far and when it gets down to (the overtime) it comes down to who has more heart," she said. "With nine seconds left, my thoughts are going to what's going to be my order for strokes, but the girls found a way."
The game may have never reached the extra time had it not been for a protest made by Frontier coach Missy Mahar with 12 minutes, 17 seconds left in regulation. Kayla Sharpe had scored what appeared to be the tying goal to bring the game to 2-2 when she fired a shot off a corner that went off Boyer's stick near her shoulders and into the net. At that point the two field officials huddled and after a brief meeting, waved the goal off, stating that the initial drive off a corner had to be scored below the 18-inch board in the back of the goal.
Mahar immediately protested to tournament director Diane Lussier, but play went on. With 4:01 left in the game, and Frontier still trailing 2-1, the scoreboard went dark and the game was stopped. After a 15-minute delay, it was ruled that the earlier no-goal was in fact a goal. The rulebook stated that a goal scored directly after a corner had to go in under the 18-inch board unless the shot goes off the stick of another player. Because Boyer had touched it, the goal counted and the clock was reset to 12:17.
"The official called it a goal, so we say, 'Yeah' and then they called it back," Mahar said of the play. "I immediately went up to Diane and spoke with her and we followed through with it. I'm happy that it was handled fair and that we had the opportunity to play it out."
The first half was an even affair with both sides getting chances. Frontier took a 1-0 lead with nine minutes remaining when Kate VandenDolder finished off a corner play. Lacie Judge took the pass and pushed it over to Sharpe, who took a shot from just inside the top of the circle. The ball ended up on the stick of VandenDolder who shot it through a pack and into the net.
South Hadley wasted little time evening the score in the second half as Hills picked up the ball out of a scrum near the goal line and punched it in to for the Tigers' first of the game with 26:23 left.
Nearly 10 minutes later, Hills found herself with the ball to the right of the Frontier cage and, after dribbling toward the goal, the junior fired a shot toward the net that was redirected home by McClaflin to put South Hadley up 2-1.
Although McClaflin finished with the two goals, the hero of the night may have been Boyer, who finished with 18 saves in the Tigers' net, none bigger than a stop on Jess Zewski when she broke in on goal with 25 seconds left in the first overtime.
Boyer said she welcomed the challenge over the nearly 30 minutes of overtime where she made seven saves.
"The first thing that came into my mind was, 'Bring it on, I'm so ready for this,'" she said. "We all put in so much work, and it couldn't have gone in. Our season depended on those saves."
The loss marked the final game for Frontier seniors Nicole Petrizzi, Haley Perret, Sharpe, Lauren Kuzdeba, Zewski, Judge and Stryszko.
"We've been on a hiatus from this tournament for three years," Mahar said. "I'm so proud of them. To get to the tournament, get the second seed and to get here is great. I feel bad that they won't be playing on Saturday. However, they've had a great experience and a great run."
