AGAWAM — Heading into the Western Massachusetts Division II Field Hockey Tournament, the defending-champion Frontier Regional School team faced another opponent not on the field.
Mononucleosis, a debilitating sickness, took away Frontier’s leading scorer, McKenzie Patterson, for the postseason.
Without Patterson, the Red Hawks beat South Hadley 1-0 in the semifinals Tuesday night at Agawam High School.
“We needed the midfield to have an offensive push,” Frontier coach Missy Mahar said. “Kenz brings power, experience and goal-scoring opportunities. You can’t replace experience, but the forwards that are in there are willing to do what they can to score goals.”
Second-seeded Frontier (14-1-4) advances to play No. 1 Greenfield (16-0-3) for a WMass title Friday at West Springfield’s Clark Field. It’s the matchup that’s been marinating all season. Greenfield beat Southwick-Tolland 5-0 in the other semifinal.
“They have an experienced team,” Mahar said, “players that are elite scorers. They have all the makings of a No. 1 seed. We’ll reflect on what we need to do better to compete with them with out Kenzy.”
The Red Hawks, gunning for their third straight WMass title and seventrh overall under Mahar, have a loss and a tie to Greenfield this season. Frontier scored with 9 minutes, 51 seconds left in the half and made it stand. Off a penalty corner by Emma Wesoloski, Ashley Borkowski smacked a shot past South Hadley goalie Brittany Cote.
Borkowski and Patterson were a dynamic offensive tandem all year. With Patterson out for Friday against Greenfield, the team will look to senior Borkowski for experience on offense.”
“I am really used to having her there,” Borkowski said. “But it’s also fun playing with other people. The biggest challenge was that I always know where she is on the field, and she wasn’t there. ”
Patterson watched bundled up from the sidelines.
“I know she’s really sad that she can’t play,” Borkowski said. “She’s proud of us. She wanted to play.”
South Hadley (8-9-3) came in as the No. 3 seed but had a difficult time generating offense against midfielder Camille Alli and the leader of Frontier’s defense, Celia Speth.
Frontier carried most of the play in South Hadley’s end, outside of a brief period before halftime.
Hannah Menard made a few nice surges for the Tigers and Cote made six saves in net.
“I think both teams played an incredible game of hockey,” South Hadley coach Tara Cole said. “We knew Frontier was going to be fast, so we went in blind.”
Seniors Sarah Lacey, Isabella Patruno, Hannah Ziomek, Sarah Shea, Kate O’Neil and Menard played their last game for South Hadley.
“I am really proud of them,” Cole said. “Not every team gets to the semifinals. Not every team gets to the playoffs. They left no regrets on the field.”
Skyla Burniske made two saves to record the shutout for Frontier, including a big kick save just as the second half began.
