WALPOLE – It took all of 16 seconds for the Uxbridge field hockey team – with one of the most potent attacks the MIAA has to offer – to generate an offensive corner Wednesday night.
The next 3,584 seconds saw No. 3 Walpole (11-0) respond with a defensive clinic, stymieing the No. 1 Spartans for an impressive 1-0 win in a nonleague battle between the reigning Div. 1 and Div. 4 state champions.
Junior Kate Schneider scored the game’s lone goal less than six minutes in, proving all the Porkers needed to edge Uxbridge (9-1). Walpole goalie Aideen Smith (seven saves) was phenomenal as a big part of the defensive effort, solidifying the team’s 25th straight win while ending the Spartans’ win streak at 19 games.
Nerves heading into a rematch of last year’s only loss were at an all-time high for Walpole, as far as regular season matches go. But after pulling off the win in a game that felt more like a state championship, confidence skyrocketed.
“It just sets the tone going forward,” said Walpole head coach Jen Quinn. “Now this is the bar they just set.”
“This is definitely a huge confidence booster,” added junior defender Grace Hagan. “Especially given we won (it all) last year, and they got us last time. We had a big turnover this year. … It’s just showing we can still pull through, even with a big change. It’s huge.”
Before the first question was asked in her postgame interview, Quinn took a moment to acknowledge the defensive tenacity her team showed in its biggest win yet this year.
While Uxbridge didn’t feature the typical offensive prowess it used to score at least three goals in all of its prior nine games, there were plenty of flashes throughout that Walpole needed to be on its game to stop. Both teams flipped the field on an instant a handful of times, and the Spartans generated eight offensive corner opportunities.
Caitlyn Naughton, Grace Hagan, Emily Hagan, Sophia Fruci, Nadia Michienzi and Riley Halloran each had big performances to plug gaps and disrupt budding threats from an Uxbridge offense saturated with goal-scorers.
“Their tenacity is – they’re just relentless,” Quinn said. “We are relentless to the ball. Nobody even gets a break. It may not be the prettiest of things, but (opponents) don’t even have a chance to breathe and then there’s another kid right at you. And I think that was the difference.”
Whatever they didn’t keep off Smith, the first-year starter stepped up for what Quinn confirmed as the best game of her career in net.
“It was really impressive,” Grace Hagan said. “She was telling me where to go, she’s been really great with communicating. Great with getting down, getting back up fast. And just really directing us where we want to go, which is exactly what you need.”
“I do want to give kudos to Aideen,” Quinn added. “The way it started, that could’ve been a quick goal (for Uxbridge) right there and it would’ve set the tone for the whole game. And she came up huge with a bunch of nice saves.”
It’s nothing new for Walpole how its goal was scored. Naughton set up Schneider down low on the left side, and the junior got past the last defender toward the post before flicking it into a tight window with 9:19 left in the first quarter.
Naughton and Schneider both have at least one point every game this season.
Otherwise, Uxbridge was lights out on defense too. Goalie Julia Okenquist recovered from the goal with a sensational 12 saves, while Kendall Gilmore, Addie Blood, Brooklyn Kaferlein and Bailey Dzivasen each disrupted promising opportunities in spurts. Part of that included a four-corner sequence for Walpole in the third quarter, which the Spartans had to stave off to stay in it.
As soon as that only goal went in early on, though, it was the Walpole defense’s mission to not let it go to waste.
“You focus on the protection (of the lead),” said Grace Hagan. “Offense did all this work, midfield did all this work, time to do our job and make sure they don’t (tie it). And we pay (Schneider) back and all the other attackers for what they did.”
