First career goal by Julie Muccino gives Smith Academy field hockey tourney win
1
2
3
4
5
SOUTH HADLEY - Julie Muccino had not played field hockey before this year, but the Smith Academy team is sure happy she decided to give it a go.
The junior scored her first-ever goal with just 13.8 seconds left to lift the Falcons to a 2-1 victory over Mohawk Trail in the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament semifinals Tuesday at Mount Holyoke College.
"It always makes us laugh because Julie's been saying all season long that she'd love to score a goal," said first-year coach Dena Polverari, who earned a win in her first-ever postseason field hockey game. "She's been working hard all season in her first year picking up a field hockey stick. It goes to show how far she's improved throughout the year that she just put a goal in the back of the net in the semifinals of WMass. That says a lot for her playing and for her team as well, that her team has faith in her."
Muccino and friend Hannah Ellis competed in gymnastics for 10 years, but the classmates decided to give field hockey a try for the first time this year.
"We had been doing it for a long time and we decided to try something new," Muccino said. "I like (field hockey) a lot. We've all been working so hard together. It's great."
Both have been key contributors for the No. 2-seeded Falcons (11-6-2) this season. Ellis has been a key member of a strong defensive group alongside Amanda Hebert, Bridget Campbell and Lauren Dymek while Muccino, of course, had the team's biggest moment of the season Tuesday.
"I didn't see (the goal) coming," Muccino said. "I thought it was going to miss. It's the best thing I've ever done."
Smith Academy advances to its third straight western Massachusetts final. It will play Frontier Regional in the title game at 11 a.m. Friday back at Mount Holyoke. The Falcons won the championship in 2009 and fell to the Warriors last season.
That 2010 loss ended the career of Smith Academy coaching legend Sherry Webb, who retired after 36 years and was replaced by Polverari.
"We knew we had to step it up," Emi Barker said. "We had to conquer a big game to get back to the finals. It feels really good to make it back because I really want to hang another banner at Smith Academy."
It was Barker who set up the game-winning play when she beat a Mohawk player to the ball inside the circle.
"I saw Julie out of the corner of my eye and dumped it to the right side," she said. "We've been working on it a lot in practice. When I cross it, she crosses it right back and (I look to) tip it."
But Barker knew she was well-defended and called for Muccino to shoot, which she did, to lift the Falcons to another WMass final.
"It was amazing. I think there were a lot of people doubting us," Barker said. "We flew under the radar, which is how we like it, and we knew that Miss Webb was with us in spirit. (Polverari) is doing a great job and we knew it was redemption time."
Danielle Duseau got the Falcons on the scoreboard first 3 minutes, 54 seconds into the game on the team's first shot on goal.
Smith was awarded a corner and Alyssa Woodward sent the ball in from the left side to Barker at the top of the circle. Barker crossed the ball to her left to Duseau, who buried her shot inside the right post.
The Falcons managed just one other shot, which Ashley Manners turned away, in the half and couldn't find an opportunity out of two other first-half corners.
Mohawk, meanwhile, struggled to pressure the Smith defense, but finally broke through when McKayla Poissant's through ball put Kesheal Henderson on a breakaway. The sophomore just beat Smith goalie Lauren Bradford (one save) to the ball and slipped the shot into the open goal to even the score with just 2:03 remaining in the half.
"I'm happy with how they played," Mohawk coach Lynn Hoeppner said. "In the beginning of the game, we came out a bit slow, a bit flat. But we called a timeout, got our heads into the game and worked within our game plan. We regained our poise and started outhustling them to the ball."
But it was Smith that carried the play down the stretch in the second half and one last push ended the game.
"We knew that we really needed to come out the last six minutes after the timeout, push it really hard and control the game the way we did in the beginning," Barker said. "We had to play strong, connect our passes more and push through the defense. We are really proud of how much we stayed together."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
