After a regular season that concluded with two local programs winning Western Mass. championships, the MIAA Division 4 Field Hockey Tournament bracket was released on Tuesday with four Franklin County teams slated to host Round of 32 contests.
Fresh off winning the Class C title on Monday night, Frontier was the highest-seeded local team in the state tournament field. The Redhawks (10-2-6) are seeded 8th in the bracket, and will open their state tournament run with a home game against No. 25 Leicester in the Round of 32 on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in South Deerfield.
Leicester, which went 11-6-1 during the regular season, fell to West Bridgewater in last year’s Div. 4 Round of 32.
One spot behind Frontier, Class C runner-up Greenfield is the No. 9 seed in the Div. 4 field. The Green Wave (11-5-3) will open their state tournament with a home game against No. 24 Carver, set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Carver (6-7-5) dropped a Round of 32 game at Sutton in 2021.
If both teams win their opening-round games, Frontier and Greenfield would meet for a fourth time this season in the Round of 16. The Redhawks would host that game, tentatively scheduled for early to mid next week. Stay tuned.
Class D runner-up Pioneer (10-3-2) is the No. 12 seed in the field, and the Panthers also drew a Round of 32 home game for their efforts. No. 21 Littleton will come to Northfield on Monday at 2:30 p.m. with a spot in the Round of 16 on the line. The Tigers (11-4-3) reached the quarterfinals of last year’s Div. 4 tournament, winning two games before falling to top-seeded Monomoy Regional.
Rounding out the local teams in the Div. 4 field hockey bracket is No. 16 Franklin Tech, which won its second consecutive Western Mass. title on Monday thanks to a 2-1 overtime victory over Pioneer in the Class D final.
The Eagles (13-2-3) will host No. 17 Nantucket (7-7-3) in the Round of 32 on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in Turners Falls. The Islanders qualified for last year’s tournament but lost to Lunenburg in the Round of 32.
Defending state champion Uxbridge (18-0-0) is the No. 1 seed in the bracket. Manchester Essex (12-3-3) is No. 2, followed by Cohasset (12-5-1) at No. 3 and Monomoy at No. 4 (9-4-5). Last year’s runner-up Ipswich is the No. 10 seed in the field.