LYNNFIELD — Junior Maddie Murphy and the No. 5 Lynnfield field hockey team were flat out dominant in Thursday’s 7-2 win over No. 12 Ipswich in the opening round of the Division 2 North tournament at Pioneer Stadium.
Murphy had a monster game. She factored in every Pioneer goal, finishing with five goals and two assists. The first 10 minutes of the game were played in a rain squall, but that didn’t bother Murphy. She scored four goals in the first seven minutes to stake the Pioneers to a 4-0 lead.
Murphy’s secret? A pregame treat and heads-up play from her teammates.
“I think it was all those Skittles I ate before the game, it was the Halloween candy,” said Murphy. “They were good luck for sure, but we played really unselfishly. Our passing was fantastic and we had worked on that. The key was for me to get open and give Carolyn (Garofoli) room to distribute the ball out wide. Everyone, Lily (Rothwell) especially, had their heads up looking to pass the ball and I also thought Talia (Bridgham) did a great job getting the ball up the field.”
Pioneer coach Mamie Reardon said she had never seen anything like it.
“Maddie just came to play, as she always does, but she was on a mission from the very start,” Reardon said. “She just kept bringing the ball down, which she can do because she is so quick on that right side. And truly, the passing was great so we played our game and just were able to settle in after Maddie got us off to that great start.”
With the win, the Pioneers advance to a quarterfinal matchup against No. 4 Manchester-Essex Sunday at Hyland Field (1 p.m).
Murphy started the party just 1:24 in. She took a dish from Rothwell and flew down the right side, then blasted a hard shot inside the far post to make it 1-0.
Two and a half minutes later, it was deja vu. Murphy collected a pass from Bridgham and slammed it past Ipswich goalie Kayla Laddin, far post left.
About a minute later, Anna Kaminski worked the ball into scrum in front of the net. Gabby Langone (2 assists) got a stick on it and tipped to Murphy, who was all alone on the right side and redirected it home.
Ipswich showed a little life and got off a shot that was blocked. Lynnfield took the ball the other way in a hurry, with Langone playing a through ball to Murphy. She drove to goal and finished in another scrum, making it 4-0 with 22:42 left in the half.
Ipswich stepped up its attack and both teams had scoring opportunities over the next several minutes, but both teams’ defense ruled.
Lynnfield goalie Ava O’Brien (nine saves) came up huge with about 10 minutes to play. Ipswich’s Rowan Galanis broke in alone, but O’Brien made the save of the game when she came off her line and made a sliding save to break up the play.
“Again, I cannot say enough about Ava,” said Reardon. “She saved at least three goals with absolutely incredible saves, like that one.”
With 5:51 left in the half Kaminski finished a Murphy cross to make it 5-0.
Ali Moulton finally got Ipswich on the board about a minute later to send the teams into the halftime break with Lynnfield holding a commanding 5-1 lead.
Murphy wasn’t done yet.
About eight minutes in, Bridgham (2 assists) dished to Garofoli. She crossed to Murphy, who slammed it home to make it 6-1
Five minutes later, Murphy made another long run down the right side and crossed to Rothwell, who put the final nail in the Tigers’ coffin.
Murphy and Reardon agreed that Sunday’s game against the Hornets, who the Pioneers defeated last Saturday in a 1-0 thriller, will be a challenge.
“I’m so happy for the team to get this win move on, but It’s going to be a very tough game,” said Reardon.
“Obviously we take a lot of positives from this game, but we can’t get too excited and dwell on it,” said Murphy. “We have to put this in the past and focus on the next game. We know we are going to have to play another great game to move on.”
