Above, Greenfield’s Audrey Bresciano takes a penalty shot on Frontier goalkeeper Skyla Burniske while tied 1-1 after double overtime during their MIAA Western Mass Division II finals at West Springfield’s Clark Field Friday. Below, Greenfield’s Katherine Haselton moves the ball down the field, guarded by Frontier’s Lillian Powers during the same title game.
Above, Greenfield’s Audrey Bresciano takes a penalty shot on Frontier goalkeeper Skyla Burniske while tied 1-1 after double overtime during their MIAA Western Mass Division II finals at West Springfield’s Clark Field Friday. Below, Greenfield’s Katherine Haselton moves the ball down the field, guarded by Frontier’s Lillian Powers during the same title game. Credit: Recorder Staff/Matt Burkhartt photos

Greenfield High School must wait an extra day to play in the MIAA Division II state field hockey semifinals.

Due to forecasts of heavy rain today, the semifinal game between Greenfield and central Mass. champion Oakmont High School has been postponed till Wednesday. The game will take place at Clark Field at West Springfield High School at 5.

That might not be the worst thing for a Green Wave (17-0-3) team celebrating its tense 2-1 win in penalty strokes over Frontier Regional School in Friday’s western Mass. championship game. After playing two overtime periods of 7-on-7, many of the players on the Wave are still recovering.

Greenfield will have its hands full with an Oakmont team that comes in with a 15-4-1 record. The Spartans were the third seeds in the central Mass. tournament and had to win four games en route to the title. Oakmont pitched three consecutive shutouts before defeating top-seeded Quaboag Regional High School, 5-1, in the title game.

Greenfield coach Erin Thayer said that Oakmont, which also wears green and white uniforms, plays its home games on turf, which gives them an advantage in the semifinals.

“They are a turf team and a solid turf team,” she said. “We have to be ready for lots of transition balls and lots of stick-to-stick passing. They will try to play a possession game.”

Offensively, Oakmont is led by senior Taylor Ladue, who registered a hat trick in the CMass finals, and junior midfielder Maddie Moran, who added a goal in the championship game.

Thayer said she is looking for her team to perform better over the entire game, after she felt her team came out slow against Frontier. That led to the Red Hawks taking a 1-0 first-half lead that it carried well into the second half before Greenfield tied it with just under 8 minutes remaining.

“We didn’t start out strong against Frontier,” she said. “We didn’t step to balls well, and it’s going to take a solid effort from all 11 players for 60 minutes. That means doing everything the way we need to be doing it.”

Both teams have experience playing in state semis. The Spartans last won a central Mass. title in 2012 when they went on to play Frontier in the state semifinal game. Oakmont beat the Red Hawks, 2-0, that season but lost 1-0 to Watertown High School in the state championship game. Greenfield’s last western Mass. title came back in 2006 and the Wave took on Quaboag in the state semifinal but lost 3-2 in overtime.

One thing that Thayer believes should help her team is that the pressure is off. The unbeaten Green Wave had been expected to win the WMass title all season and now that the crown is theirs, she believes her team should be able to relax.

“It’s hard to have a bulls-eye on your back all season long,” she said. “I told them today, ‘The pressure is gone. You wanted to win western Mass., but that pressure of getting the title is gone. Play, have fun and enjoy. Go do what you know how to do and have fun.”