TURNERS FALLS — Pioneer Valley Regional field hockey coach Sallie Gilliland is the first to say her team didn’t play its best game of the season Monday against Franklin Tech.
The Panthers (6-5-2, 5-3 Tri-County League) needed a win to keep their postseason aspirations rolling along but came out flat in the morning contest. Pioneer fell behind early after Logan Addison broke free, finishing on the breakaway to give the Eagles (2-11-1, 2-6) a lead just five minutes into the game.
Gilliland called a timeout to regroup and her team responded, scoring three straight goals to come away with a 3-1 victory in the Tri-County League tilt.
“We had the Monday blues,” Gilliland said. “They didn’t have school today and it’s really hard to get kids motivated when that’s the case. It’s a life lesson. If you don’t show up to work, you’re going to get fired. They didn’t show up to work early. It wasn’t a good ‘W’ but it was a ‘W.’ I’ve seen them play harder against other challenging teams.”
After the early timeout, Pioneer upped its pressure on the Franklin Tech defense. The attack resulted in six shots on goal and seven corners in the first half, while the Panther defense kept the ball in the Eagle half of the field for nearly the entire final 25 minutes.
The Panthers ultimately capitalized from their relentless offensive pressure, with a missile shot by Hailey Haughey from the slot evening the game up just before the half.
“When we get the ball on our stick in the offensive end, we work very well together,” Gilliland said. “It’s the transition from our offensive to defensive end where we sometimes get stuck. We get stuck playing in the middle. Tech plays solid in the center.”
The final 30 minutes of action were a continuation of the end of the first half as Pioneer kept the pressure up, not allowing Franklin Tech to establish an offensive rhythm while holding an 8-2 corner advantage in the half.
Jennie Fuller put the Panthers ahead with 26:37 to play, firing a long shot from outside the box. The ball came in hot and took a bounce over Eagle goalie Kyleigh Baleno before landing in the back of the cage.
Pioneer struck again with 4:05 to play to put the icing on the cake, as Avery Sargent put one home off an assist from Sydney Unaitis for the 3-1 advantage.
Baleno made 13 saves in goal for the Eagles while Athena Fowler-Shaw saved two of the three Franklin Tech shots.
Eagles coach Rian Lovett said she was pleased with the way her defense played, but hoped to get more out of her offense which has shown strides of improvement in recent games.
“I told our team to put the pressure on them early and we did that,” Lovett said. “We were able to put pressure on but they were able to overcome it. It’s the same struggles we’ve had all year. We just don’t have the offensive transition. Our defense played a lot better today but we still have to be better and do better. We’ve been putting our emphasis on defense this year, which is a lot better. It’s frustrating when you don’t have the offense.”
Though it wasn’t pretty, the win puts the Panthers over the .500 mark as they look to find a spot in the playoffs. Gilliland knows her team is capable of making it into the postseason for the first time since 2012.
“I set the bar high for the girls because they can reach it,” Gilliland said. “I continue to move it higher and higher for them. Challenging them is important and you can’t take a step backward, you have to build each game. Today, we took some steps that hurt us.”
Pioneer takes on Athol on Wednesday looking to add another key late season win, while Franklin Tech looks to get its offense going against a tough Belchertown squad.
Pioneer 3, FC Tech 1
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Pioneer |
1 |
2 |
— |
3 |
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FC Tech |
1 |
0 |
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1 |
Goals: (P) Haughey, Fuller, A. Sargent. (FT) Addison.
Assists: (P) Unaitis.
Shots: Pioneer 16. FC Tech 3.
Saves: (P) Fowler-Shaw 2. (FT) Baleno 13.
Corners: Pioneer 15. FC Tech 2.