Southwick junior Sydney Rogers, right, battles Frontier Regional’s Celia Speth during the first half of Saturday night’s West Division 2 Field Hockey Final in West Springfield. Rogers went on to score the Rams only goal. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School field hockey team lost just one game all season … until the finals.
No. 2 Frontier rallied to upend top-seeded Southwick in the Western Massachusetts Division 2 field hockey championship Saturday at Clarke Field.
Frontier (12-7-1) rallied around freshman forward Mckenzie Patterson, who had one goal and one assist. Patterson was relentless around the net, bobbing and weaving while maintaining her dribble throughout much of the game.
“They were really good on small passing with a reverse stick,” Southwick senior Morgan Harriman said of the opposition.
Harriman said facing Frontier was like facing Division 1 foes Westfield and Agawam during the regular season.
“We are not used to a team being able to reverse the ball so well,” she said.
Both offenses sputtered early in the opening half, save for a Frontier penalty corner in the second minute, but Southwick struck first.
Late in the 10th minute, Southwick scored the game’s first goal after the team’s first real solid push. Harriman launched a shot toward the goal from about 10 yards out. Junior Sydney Rogers got a stick on it, and the Rams led 1-0.
Southwick held on to the lead for the next 10 minutes until Frontier sophomore Ashley Korkowski tipped in a pass from Patterson with 8:40 remaining in the first half.
The goal was the result of constant pressure from Frontier. The Red Hawks had six penalty corners in the first 22 minutes of the game. The sixth one – much crisper and more decisive than their previous ones – led to a score.
Frontier’s offensive surge continued.
Less than a minute into the second half, Patterson punched in a goal off a penalty corner – the team’s seventh – when the initial shot was fired into the striking circle. The ball was slapped around until finally finding the back of the net.
Frontier finished with 15 penalty corners to Southwick’s two (one in each half). The Red Hawks dominated time of possession in the second half.
“It’s tough,” said a saddened Southwick coach Jordan Baillargeon. “They outplayed us for most of the game. They deserved it.”
Southwick senior goalie Sarah Bodzinski kept her team in the game, making several key saves (eight).
“We have a real good goalie,” coach Baillargeon said. “It just was not in the cards for us this season.”
For Southwick (13-2-2), it was the team’s best finish in nearly a decade.
For several years, the Rams had a handful of one-and-done coaches. The coaching carousel was so bad that it was like college hoops’ players jumping to the NBA, but Baillargeon changed the attitude surrounding the program.
The Southwick coach, a former player at Westfield High, brought something the team had been lacking in previous years – stability, and a winning attitude.
The team exuded a confidence, and performed well all year. All that was missing at the end of the night was a different piece of hardware.
“It is still going in the trophy case,” said Southwick senior Jennifer Yelin, who, along with her teammates, displayed sportsmanship not typically seen after such a heartbreaking loss.
Said Rams’ assistant coach Chelsea Collins: “The victory might not have been on the field, but (the Southwick players) are the happiest losing team I’ve ever seen. That has a lot to be said right there.”
