IPSWICH — The magical season for the St. Mary’s field hockey team came to an end Wednesday evening, as the No. 13 Spartans fell to No. 4 Ipswich by a score of 3-1 in the Division 4 tournament Round of 16 at Jack Welch Stadium.
“The girls played hard and kept fighting the whole game, and you can’t ask for anything more,” said St. Mary’s coach Victoria Ault. “(Ipswich) No. 7 had a killer shot and she got us with it twice. But we worked hard in all three phases and played well out there.”
Maggie Pierce scored the lone goal for the Spartans, while Gianna Korisianos played well in the loss. Goalie Adrianna Bowker had nine saves for St. Mary’s.
The two sides were evenly matched through much of the first quarter, but Ipswich had several great scoring opportunities, thanks in part to two corner attempts with about five minutes to play. But Bowker was up to the task each time, kicking away save after save to keep the game tied at 0-0 after one quarter of play.
But early in the second, Ipswich got another corner and didn’t miss its chance. Chloe Pszenny sent a pass out in front to Linde Ruitenberg, and Ruitenberg buried a hard shot to make it a 1-0 game with 10:38 to go in the half.
Less than five minutes later, Ruitenberg did it again on a nearly identical play to make it a 2-0 game with 5:47 left before halftime.
But the Spartans never stopped fighting, and with just 39 seconds to go Pierce outran everyone to a loose ball, got behind the defense and slipped the ball past the Ipswich netminder to make it 2-1 at the halftime break.
“It was awesome to see Yirsy (Queliz) and Maggie running up the field like that and finishing things off,” said Ault. “It really gave us some good momentum going into the half.”
After the third quarter went by without any score change, Ipswich cashed in on one of its many corner opportunities early in the fourth. With 11:30 to go in the game, Kayden Flather knocked home a loose ball in front of the net to make it 3-1 Tigers and effectively seal the victory for Ipswich.
St. Mary’s closes out the season at 8-9-2. It was an incredibly successful season for the Spartans, which made a run to the Round of 16 and won its first-ever tournament game in only its second season as a varsity program.
“It was just an incredible season all around and the girls have all improved so much over the course of the year,” said Ault. “To come out and make it to the final 16 in just our second varsity season is a huge accomplishment and it’s a testament to how hard all these girls have worked this year.”
