Swampscott field hockey falls in semis

NORTH ANDOVER – Swampscott field hockey coach Toby Channen wouldn’t use it as an excuse, but it was obvious that her team’s lack of consistent experience on a fast, turf field didn’t give it much of an edge against Manchester-Essex in the Division 2 North semifinals.The Big Blue, who fell to the Hornets, 2-0, at Joseph Walsh Field at North Andover High Saturday, just couldn’t get anything going against their tournament nemesis (M/E has now knocked Swampscott out of the tournament three straight years).The Hornets were much faster, while Swampscott’s free shots down the other end of the field often skidded too fast for a Big Blue player to catch up.”I’m not going to use it as an excuse,” Channen said. “That’s not why we lost. That’s a good team over there. We should know. This is the third time we’ve lost to them now.”Beyond the disappointment of losing, Channen was actually happy with the way her team played.”They (Manchester-Essex) had 22 corners, and only two goals,” she said. “That is very good defense. I really have to tip my hat to all my defenders. They hung in there. To only give up two goals in that situation is very good. It’s just that offensively, we couldn’t get anything going.”Flyer Lisa Vu had a lot to do with keeping the game close, coming out on the corners and limiting the Hornets’ shots off them.But 22 corners were one too many. The Hornets scored – indirectly – of one of them less than eight minutes into the game, with Brittany Smith grabbing the ball from a cluster in front of the net (it wasn’t sufficiently cleared from the corner flurry) and putting it behind Katie Samiljian. Before the half ended, Smith had struck again in similar fashion, taking the ball from a scramble in front of the net and whacking it home.”I have to give Swampscott credit,” said M/E coach Andrea Slaven, a former star for Bishop Fenwick. “They kept playing. They never let up. I told my girls that we can take a lesson from them.””I’m sorry this season has ended,” said Channen, “because I really love this team. Every one of them gave me everything she had.”Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].