UXBRIDGE – Exactly one week after losing to defending Div. 1 state champion Walpole for just its second loss in two years, the Uxbridge field hockey team rebounded in a big way against the reigning Div. 1 runner-up Wednesday night.
In a display of powerful scoring, effective passing and suffocating defense, the No. 2 Spartans (11-1) showed off exactly what the hype around them is about with a 4-0 win over No. 10 Andover.
Four different players scored for the Uxbridge on senior night, helping its two seniors avenge the program’s only loss last year – a 2-0 defeat on the road to Andover. Each of the first three goals came on hard-hit shots from just inside the circle in the first half, capping off an effort that saw the Spartans power through each phase of the field to generate offensive opportunities.
A defensive switch up from last week helped Uxbridge match Andover’s speed throughout, limiting it to just four shots on goalie Julia Okenquist for the Spartans’ ninth shutout in 12 games.
“I do think it’s a bounce-back, I do think that they all came out to play,” said Uxbridge head coach Kelly Rosborough. “They all were just in the right places, moving to the ball, not backing down. I just saw a lot of courage and strength to play hard for the whole game. … Everyone was just on the same page and flowing together.”
Andover’s (11-2-1) midfielders and defense did well to limit activity on goalie Lucy Baker (13 saves) early on, though Uxbridge frequently drove the ball toward the circle that it just couldn’t get a stick on.
The Spartans kept delivering strong hits all over the field, and one finally turned into a shot on goal and a 1-0 lead midway through the first quarter on a well-executed reverse-chip in traffic from Julianna Casucci.
Lucy MacClean and Avery Pitts led a Golden Warriors effort to snuff a handful of promising offensive developments throughout the rest of the frame, and Bella DiFiore generated a couple chances herself on the other end that Andover couldn’t finish.
It wasn’t long before Uxbridge tacked on another, though, needing less than two minutes in the second quarter for Brooklyn Kaferlein to rip a precise shot through traffic from the top of the circle. The Spartans maintained possession on Andover’s side of the field for much of the quarter, leading to five shots on goal and a defensive save from Golden Warriors junior Shannon Paul.
But Andover couldn’t prevent Uxbridge from adding one more goal to its lead just before the break, with freshman Ava Rosborough creating her own shot above the stroke line that she rifled to the far corner to make it 3-0.
“They’ve been great about assessing that, and reading what the team is giving them,” said Kelly Rosborough. “If a team kind of gives them that room there, that’s when they’re going to slice it and slice it hard. I think they just recognized that opportunity was there, and they went for it.”
Much of Andover’s scoring up front comes from its speed and stick-handling through the last layer, which Uxbridge neutralized as well as anyone could. Bailey Dzivasen and Aubrey Bouchard stood out, though everyone on the field found a way to cut off lanes and smother the ball-carrier before they could get to open space.
“Just getting through their defense (was the biggest challenge),” said Andover head coach Bridget Morris. “Our bread and butter is we get behind (the defense), and we could not get behind them.”
“(The defensive effort) was exactly what we were looking for,” added Kelly Rosborough. “Everything that we talked about, we prepared for – they executed on every end. The whole team.”
For as well as the Spartans played to shut down Andover, there’s much to be said about the job the Golden Warriors did to limit arguably the most potent attack in the state to four goals – especially with Uxbridge accruing 10 corners.
Kendall Gilmore finished off the final goal of the game on one of those corners, tipping a send up over Baker’s shoulder. But Baker held her own on a bevy of other strong shots, while Scarlet Glass, Paul and Molly Ulrich helped show a defensive prowess Andover didn’t have three weeks ago.
“At the beginning of the year … my defense would not have withheld that,” Morris said. “My goalie wouldn’t have made those saves. The strives they have made this year – I’ve got a sophomore who’s never played varsity before, a junior, this is her first year starting. And then (Glass), who was a forward last year. They’ve really just pulled it together. I said to them, ‘You can go play anyone now. You can know you’ll play good defense and that our forwards can figure it out.’”
