Brie Cook puts Frontier Regional field hockey team first with position change
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WORCESTER - Brie Cook's move to sweeper was not part of the plan for Frontier Regional, but it certainly was part of the success.
The senior was the Red Hawks' center midfielder until six games into the season, when she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her left ankle. She was told she had to wear a walking boot off the field and wasn't allowed to practice.
Looking to limit the amount of wear and tear on the ankle, Frontier revamped its lineup and moved Cook to the back, where she wouldn't have to run quite as much.
"It's definitely affected our game, but I think it has helped out the team because in the end, we definitely need a solid defense in every game," Cook said. "I adapted to the play there and I think it helped us a lot this year."
That adaptation came without the benefit of on-field practice, but Cook downplayed the difficulty of changing positions midyear under such circumstances.
"I always have to play defense. In any position, you have to play defense," she said. "I took it as doing it for myself as a senior and doing it for my team. I knew I just had to work through it, play through it and give it my all."
Frontier coach Missy Mahar was impressed with how well Cook handled the change and helped solidify a young defensive group.
"She has such wonderful game sense," said Mahar, who did occasionally move Cook up for a limited time on corners. "She knew she had to move to be able to finish out the season, and she came into the role and thrived in it. It says a lot about her character. She has done nothing but bring out the best in the team from that position."
Cook joined junior Amy Hanas and sophomores Taryn Marquis and Brenna Sicard on the back line in front of sophomore goaltender Gwen Thayer.
"We have a young defense, but with her senior leadership, she's telling them when to drop and when to go," Mahar said. "I'm truly confident in her back there."
She added, Cook "has been a true a senior leader, someone the team is truly going to miss next year. I could rely on moving her there and having her be a key contributor. Instead of getting frustrated and down, she spun it the other way and took it to the next level."
Watching her during a game, one would never know Cook was in such pain, but she pays the price afterward.
"I don't think about it. I try to keep it out of my mind," she said. "After (the game), it definitely hurts. I have to ice it and wear the boot."
She said the discomfort was worth it, however, as Frontier enjoyed an undefeated regular season and a league championship. Then, the entire defense took its play to the next level in the two biggest games of the year.
In Friday's Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament championship game, the Frontier Regional defense held off a strong offensive attack from rival Smith Academy through 60 minutes of regulation and 21:50 of seven on seven before forward Kacey Roberts finally scored the golden goal in a 1-0 victory.
Then, in Monday night's state semifinal, the defensive unit overcame a furious start from unbeaten Oakmont to keep the game scoreless before eventually falling 1-0 early in overtime.
Mahar credited the entire group after Monday's loss.
"They were so strong. I can be nothing but proud of them," she said. "There are all new players back there and we moved players around. It was kind of a whole different unit coming into the second half of the season. They didn't just learn their new positions and what to do, but they learned how to play next to each other."
This year's WMass title marked the first for Frontier since 2005. The program missed the tournament from 2006-08 and then reached the WMass semifinals when Cook and her fellow seniors were sophomores on the squad.
"When I came to varsity as a sophomore, that's when our program started moving up again," Cook said. "We got to the semifinals and had some bad losses, but it's been great for us. It's been an honor to play for this team. We were undefeated league champs, western Mass. champs, you really couldn't ask for more. It was a great season."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
