WEST SPRINGFIELD — After falling behind early, the Franklin Tech field hockey team fell to West Springfield, 4-1, in the Class C championship game on Saturday at Clark Field.
No. 2 Franklin Tech watched as top-seeded West Springfield scored less than two minutes into the game. The lead grew to 3-0 in the fourth quarter before the Eagles got on the scoreboard.
“Losing eight seniors last year, which was a lot of our offense,” Franklin Tech coach Rian Lovett said. “It’s been a lot this season trying to figure it out. Trying to get people in the right spots. I think today, a lot of it was honestly nerves. It takes us a little bit of time to get moving and unfortunately when they score early like that it puts us on our heels.”
The Eagles (10-8-1) lost for a third time to the Terriers (14-3-2) this season. Franklin Tech now faces a daunting task in the state tournament. The Eagles currently rank 46th in the most recent MIAA power rankings for Division 3.
“Playing like this, playing on this stage,” Lovett said. “I thought overall we played pretty well. I think we can take a lot of things we did well and build on them. We can go back and watch some film and see what we need to work on and take that into next week.”
Franklin Tech’s defense along with goaltender Redyn Gutierrez kept the Eagles in the game for most of the contest.
“I thought defensively we played great,” Lovett said. “We communicated well.”
Pinned in its own end of the field for most of the game, the Eagles got a goal in the fourth quarter from Cameron Jacques on an assist from Talia Curtis-Pederzini. The MIAA releases the state tournament brackets for field hockey on Tuesday.
“Going into the state tournament we are definitely going to expect more,” Jacques said. “Playing this team (West Side), they have a lot of skill. It helps us all work together on how to better ourselves.”
While a goal in the sectional championship seemed nice, Jacques viewed it as a team accomplishment.
“It feels really good to finally deliver for your team,” Jacques said. “The group effect. Benefiting everyone. Not just myself. It’s really fun from that aspect.”
Franklin Tech spent much of the first half playing defense but did apply some pressure late in the second quarter. On two penalty corners, the Eagles had some near scoring opportunities, but the ball bounced away from the goal. Franklin Tech had three consecutive penalty corners in the third but could not come away with a goal.
“It’s one thing we’ve been struggling with all year,” Lovett said. “We get a lot of corners, and we can’t finish them. I just need them to step up and go to the ball. In one way it’s great because they are not selfish, but that’s a situation where you need to be selfish. Just go attack the ball.
The Eagles fell behind early in the first quarter. West Springfield got a goal from Nora McMahon, assisted by Elizabeth Dinn, with 13 minutes, 10 seconds left in the first frame. The lead went to 2-0 in the second quarter. Nathaniel Xavier found the net for the Terriers, assisted by Kordelia Michalik. Gutierrez made a nifty save on a semi-breakaway to keep the score 2-0 in the third quarter.
Xavier scored a second goal in the third period for the Terriers, extending the lead to 3-0. Xavier notched the hat trick later in the period. It was West Springfield’s first sectional title since 2001.