Sandwich ends Hingham’s unbeaten field hockey season

HINGHAM Come out like a rocket That s the motto the No Sandwich field hockey gang follows to start every tournament and the words are behind how it pulled out a signature - win over No Hingham on Wednesday night to hand the Harborwomen - - their first loss A pair of goals in the opening nine minutes from the Blue Knights - - was enough overwhelming momentum to draw a first-quarter timeout from Hingham Their strong defense came through in the clutch the rest of the way as the Harborwomen responded with the type of play expected from the top company in the MIAA Div power rankings Perennial Div title contender Sandwich knows better than most of the importance of these types of challenges ahead of the state tournament next week Winning this one is big It was a great contest commented Blue Knights head coach Kelsy Beaton Doing my schedule I knew how talented we were going to be I really like Hingham head coach Susan Petrie good coach I knew she had a good group coming back Going into the tournament against them then Walpole Friday There s your test right there girls They came out really strong Hingham's Claire LaRonde left and Sandwich s Megan Dwyer battle for the ball during a field hockey championship won - by Sandwich Mark Stockwell Boston Herald It kind of just presented us how much we improved since our last championship against Hingham added senior defender Abbie Cotter Hingham this group is super good and we tied them the first battle Winning this tournament shows how much we ve grown and all of the work that we ve put into practicing every day Sandwich needed a late rally to come out with a tie against the Harborwomen in their first meeting almost a month ago so attention was hyper-focused on a fast start It needed just to get on the board as Quinn Jordan sent a highlight reel pass with a reverse scoop across the front to an open Rylie MacQuade on the other side for the - lead Hingham s corner defense and goalie Molly McDonald saves did well to stave off seven corners over the next six minutes but relentless offensive pressure eventually set up Khloe Schultz for a hard drive and a - lead with left in the first It was super vital that we scored early Cotter explained We constantly say Come out like a rocket so we come out super hard And when we count early it definitely relaxes us a lot Hingham called a timeout right after for a re-set and seemed to get what it looked for with back-and-forth play the rest of the way Ryan Hallisey played especially strong for the Harborwomen in the midfield helping orchestrate several promising trips into the attacking half One drew an expired-time corner at the end of the first quarter Hallisey drove a shot on net during it and Libby Baxter tipped it for the goal and a - deficit Hingham's Claire LaRonde left and Sandwich s Megan Dwyer chase the ball during a field hockey clash in Hingham Mark Stockwell Boston Herald That s all the Hingham attack could generate though as Sandwich s defense did well to limit possession in the circle despite numerous Harborwomen trips to the attacking Kyla Darmon Cotter and Isabella DiGiacomo each made notable plays on the back end to lock it down The last scarce minutes of each frame still proved dangerous though with Hingham seemingly playing its largest part intense One reverse chip from the top of the circle in the third quarter fired just inside the right post but Camryn Craddock four saves made a sensational kick save on the dive Julia O Neil Schultz and Sadie Clarkin paced Sandwich s attack out of the midfield producing numerous takeaways between the s and kickstarting promising transitions on the attack Megan Dwyer generated selected dangerous moments too Hingham s Kaitlyn Manning was vital to its defensive success following the two-goal start while Sammy Price and Sam McCabe each made certain big plays Claire LaRonde and Sam Ruddick helped bring the heat on the attack too I think we did a really good job Beaton commented Hingham is very physically strong I reported to them You ve got to hold your ground and I thought we did it really well at present We just did a great job holding our ground