AGAWAM – With the way the Greenfield field hockey team has defended this season, Monday’s road trip to Agawam seemed destined to be another low-scoring affair.
But the Brownies started the game strong, putting home a pair of goals in the opening quarter, and then finished stronger, tallying three times in the fourth quarter en route to a 5-2 victory in a Suburban League contest on the turf at Harmon Field.
Greenfield (6-4-2 overall, 4-4-2 Suburban) had allowed just eight total goals through 11 games entering Monday’s contest.
“We struggled to stop balls and be in the right positions to be able to stop them,” offered Greenfield head coach Erin Thayer. “Turf really killed us today. Recovering on defense as well, we just didn’t do that well, and we paid for it.”
Agawam (6-4-1, 3-4-1), which won its fourth game in a row and avenged a 2-0 loss to Greenfield last month, certainly rode an early wave to take a quick 2-0 advantage. The Brownies tallied twice in the game’s first 10 minutes, both goals coming on penalty corners. It was an uncharacteristic outing from the Green Wave in the corner department, as Agawam held a 13-7 edge.
“That really hasn’t been an issue for us this year but it was today,” Thayer said. “Not having our stick down, the ball hitting our feet, making blatant fouls in the circle… that killed us. They scored on many corners today.”
Agawam held its 2-0 cushion into halftime, though the Green Wave seemingly righted the ship at intermission. It was a dominant third quarter effort from the visitors, which finally cashed in for their first goal just 1:57 into the period when McKenzie Boswell finished off a Greenfield corner to cut the deficit to 2-1. Maddie Hayes kept the play alive after Agawam initially cleared the zone, pouncing on a loose ball and firing it back into the mixer. Josie Cloutier kept it moving toward the back post, where Boswell swept it into the cage.
Just five minutes later, Greenfield scored again to pull even. This time it was MacKenzie Paulin who buried a pass from Ivy Rae, tying the game at 2-2.
Greenfield goalie Ainslee Flynn made two big saves late in the third quarter to keep it tied entering the fourth, but Agawam’s unrelenting pressure over the final 15 minutes eventually proved too much.
The Brownies retook the lead with back-to-back goals from Liz Santore – the first on another Agawam corner and the second on a delayed whistle where she drove a perfectly-placed shot to the far post to make it 4-2.
Abigail Perry put it away with an insurance tally with 2:23 remaining, blasting home a shot to give Agawam the 5-2 advantage.
“We fought back hard and tied it up 2-2. Then we just let down defensively,” Thayer said. “Across the board we let down defensively.”
Flynn made 15 saves in net for Greenfield, which was outshot by a 20-5 margin. Thayer said she hopes her team rebounds quickly, as games against Turners Falls (Wednesday) and South Hadley (Friday) await this week.
“We need to respond in the right way,” she said. “We need to rebound and fix the things we’re doing wrong. We still have not found our inner glue with all of us. We’re still missing that. It’s still not there yet. It has to come together if we want to go anywhere.”