PEABODY — The Bishop Fenwick field hockey team had all facets of its game working Wednesday evening, as the No. 1 Crusaders took down No. 4 St. Mary’s by a score of 5-2 in a CCL Cup semifinal game on a cold night at Donaldson Stadium.
“The girls worked hard all night and we came out hot to start,” said Fenwick coach Marybeth Mahoney. “They really rose to the challenge in this one.”
Paige Littlehale led the way in the win for Fenwick, notching two goals and one assist. Grace Morey had one goal and two assists, while Lea Bettencourt, Emma Perry each had one goal. Shannon Nagy had one assist, while goalie Cat Elias finished with seven saves.
For St. Mary’s, Pejae Parent and Maggie Pierce each scored one goal, while goalie McKayla McGrath played well in net.
“We came out a little flat, but the girls responded well and fought hard the whole way,” said St. Mary’s coach Victoria Ault. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more out of them.”
Fenwick got things going right away, scoring less than three minutes into the game when Littlehale tipped a shot from Morey that redirected into the net for a 1-0 lead. That score remained until there were just under three minutes to play, when Littlehale added her second tally on an assist from Nagy to make it 2-0 Crusaders at the end of the first quarter.
But St. Mary’s wouldn’t go away that easily. About halfway through the second quarter, the Spartans got themselves on the board with a goal from Parent to make it a 2-1 game. The two sides battled back and forth for the remainder of the first half before going into the break with Fenwick holding a 2-1 lead.
The third quarter was another back-and-forth affair, with the two teams battling to a stalemate the whole way. That is, until there was just one second remaining in the quarter.
After a loose ball bounced around in front of the St. Mary’s net, Morey gathered the ball and sent a pass to Perry, who then fired it into the back of the net to make it 3-1 Crusaders.
Morey added a goal to make it 4-1 with just over six minutes to play in the game, then Pierce got it right back for St. Mary’s with a goal of her own about two minutes later. Bettencourt added one more goal late to seal the win.
St. Mary’s wraps up the 2020 season, its first as a varsity program, at 3-6-3.
“Our seniors — Pejae Parent, Achan Wol, Shannon Lovett, Makayla McGrath, Janella Diowo and Gina Palermo — are definitely going to be missed, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group to lay the foundation for this program,” said Ault. “I’m really excited about the sophomore group we have coming up, and I think really have a great future ahead of us as a program.”
“They’ve definitely come a long way as a program,” Mahoney said of St. Mary’s. “They’ve got a lot of athleticism and they have a really bright future. They’re certainly not going to make the CCL any easier, that’s for sure.”
Fenwick (5-3-2) will take on No. 2 Bishop Feehan in the CCL Cup final Saturday (TBA).
“It’ll be good to get a couple of practices in, because Feehan plays a totally different style of game,” Mahoney said. “We definitely have a lot to prepare for, but it’s good to have this kind of positive momentum going into it.”
