ATTLEBORO, Mass. – King Philip ended the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s Div. 1 Sweet Sixteen game at McGrath Stadium with momentum. The Warriors had a flurry of chances to try and find a winning goal, including a corner with less than 20 seconds remaining in regulation.
After an upset of No. 10 Natick in the opening round, KP felt like it had No. 7 Bishop Feehan on the ropes too.
But, seconds into the overtime period, the Shamrocks sent a shock through the KP bench. Goalie Haley Bright put her arms up to let Ava Meehan’s shot from distance go. The ball didn’t go wide or in the goal, since there was no touch either would have given KP possession, but unluckily the ball hit the post and bounced into the crease. Senior Lauren Barreiro (two assists) reacted first and intelligently carried the ball out of danger.
It was a heart-in-mouth moment for the Warriors, but one from which they very quickly recovered. With all of the space that seven-on-seven afforded, KP was off and running in OT.
Kelly Holmes nearly won it on the break when her shot to the far corner was brilliantly stopped by the left leg of Feehan goalie Isabelle Basse. Then, Holmes got space on the right side and played the ball across the middle. A couple of deflections got it on the stick of Mara Boldy, who slid the ball towards the crease where Abby MacDonald was stationed on the post.
The sophomore opened the scoring early in the first quarter and she ended the night with a deft tip, lifting KP to a thrilling 4-3 win and a spot in the quarterfinal.
“Going into tournament, we had a little bit rocky of a finish on our regular season and I just kept emphasizing, it’s a fresh start,” said first-year KP coach Kaitlyn Wilder. “We have to prove ourselves. It doesn’t matter who we face or who comes along the way, we have to focus on ourselves and play our best field hockey.”
“They’ve been showing up. The pressure of tournament, being the underdogs, they love it.”
Feehan got off to a decent start on a chilly night, putting KP back in its defensive half of the field for the opening couple minutes, but when the Warriors got forward for the first time they grabbed the lead. Good work by Nicole McDonald and Makenzie McDevitt gave the Warriors possession down the left side of the field. The ball was played into the middle and MacDonald swept a shot past the unsighted goalie for a 1-0 lead.
The hosts were undeterred and started to ramp up the pressure. One corner was blasted from the top but tipped wide and Charlotte Wymes almost set up Meehan for a goal but the effort went wide via a deflection.
KP went into the first intermission up by a goal, but the lead lasted only three minutes into the second. Lily Marchand was all alone in the middle and her first-time shot gave Bright no chance.
The Shamrocks dominated the second, but KP did have one glorious chance to regain the lead. Leah Santoro had a nifty move to lift the ball over the defender’s stick and race free on the right side. She played a pass into MacDonald, who was one-on-one with the goalie but pulled her shot wide.
Feehan took advantage of the let-off and took its first lead with 1:29 left before halftime. Kay Murphy’s aerial just evaded the stick of Bright and dipped under the bar to make it 2-1.
Instead of being the moment that the higher seed started to pull away, KP bounced right back in the third. On their first corner of the night, the Warriors equalized. Holmes collected the pass and let rip with a rocket into the far corner.
Bright preserved the tie, with help from defenders Charlotte Raymond and Barreiro, making a pair of saves from close-range before it was cleared. There was nothing Bright could do with five minutes to play in the third, as Meehan played a perfect ball into the stick of Marchand on the edge of the crease for her second of the night.
The message on the KP bench between quarters was to maintain the intensity and the Warriors carried that onto the field in the fourth. Holmes would again be the spark, providing KP with a lift on both ends and getting her second goal to level the score. It came off another corner. This time Holmes faked the initial shot, ducked inside the defender, and flicked a shot inside the far post.
“Unreal,” Wilder said about Holmes. “She can handle pressure. She knows that they’re on her and she’s like, ‘I’ve got it coach.’ I trust her and her instincts and her game sense. She’s just such an incredible athlete and her presence on the field puts an extra layer into our players. They find that extra gear because they see Kelly find that extra gear.”
Basse would be very busy in the final 15 minutes, as KP was the team creating the best scoring chances. McDonald had a tip in front denied by the Feehan goalie and then Boldy had a hard shot through traffic kicked aside as well. KP had one last chance, earning a corner with 21 seconds to go. Boldy again had a big shot saved and McDonald had a tip from close range kicked away, as the rebound was inches from the stick of Barreiro at the back post.
The game would head to an extra period and MacDonald would get to play hero, finding the touch that secured the upset and keeps KP’s season alive.
Wilder reflected, “That’s our team motto, it’s on the back of my shirt, is resilient. We fight for what we have on this team. Everyone shows up every day and we play resilient.”
She continued, “You have to play your game and it doesn’t matter, as long as you’re on top at the end of the game that’s being resilient, that’s being persistent, and that’s the team we’ve grown into this season.”
King Philip (13-5-2) will take on the winner of No. 2 (and defending state champion) Andover and No. 15 Acton-Boxboro at a date and time to be determined.
- Taunton Cousins Dominate in the Circle and at the Plate - 06/19/2023
- Softball Photos: Taunton vs. Central Catholic - 06/19/2023
- Dynasty Continues, Taunton Wins Third Straight D1 Title - 06/19/2023