PEABODY — The Bishop Fenwick field hockey team shook off a slow start Thursday afternoon, rallying to score six straight goals to take down rival St. Mary’s, 6-1, at Donaldson Stadium.
“We really started the game off on our heels, and I think the early goal by St. Mary’s really snapped us out of it,” said Fenwick coach Marybeth Mahoney. “We were really able to turn things around, get into our rhythm and take advantage of our opportunities on offense.”
Grace Morey once again was the playmaker in the win for the Crusaders, notching three goals and two assists.
“Grace really is just running things in the center of the field for us,” said Mahoney. “She has such smart field presence and she can see two steps ahead, so she’s a true playmaker out there for us. She controls our flow on offense and creates a lot of opportunities.”
Arianna Costello added two goals in the win, while Rayne Millett had one goal and one assist. Goalkeeper Cat Elias made eight saves, while Kristina Rusha and Karina Gyllenhaal played well in the midfield.
The Spartans’ lone goal came from Pej’ae Parent.
St. Mary’s jumped out to an early lead in this one, scoring just 33 seconds into the game to go up 1-0.
But Morey got Fenwick right back into it, scoring two goals in a span of less than two minutes to put the Crusaders ahead for good. Millett and Costello added goals before the half to go up 4-1, then Morey finished things off with two goals in the second half.
The game was the first in what will surely be many years of great battles between the two rival schools. As rivals in every other sport, Mahoney is glad that the friendly competitiveness will be brought to field hockey.
“It’s really exciting to get this rivalry started in our sport finally,” said Mahoney. “It feels like we’ve been talking about this for years after not having a ton of programs in the conference to go against, so it’s great to see St. Mary’s start a program to get this rivalry going.”
Fenwick (2-0-1) will host Cohasset Saturday afternoon (4).
St. Mary’s (1-2-1) travels to Central Catholic Saturday morning (10).
