Charlie Breitrose
Watertown field hockey co-captains Allie Doggett, left, and Emily Loprete hold the North Section Div. 2 Championship trophy after the Raiders beat Weston 2-0.
The Raiders field hockey team put away a pesky Weston team to win Sunday’s MIAA Div. 2 North Section final.
Watertown (21-0) earned another section title and lengthened its unbeaten streak to 136 straight games with the win at North Andover High School.
Sophomore Kourtney Kennedy whacked home a goal to give the Raiders a lead under three minutes into the game. Watertown coach Eileen Donahue said Kennedy did a good job keeping the play alive after a corner and scored the goal.
“Its nice to start that way,” Donahue said.
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown sophomore Kourtney Kennedy scored the first goal for the Raiders in the North Section final.
The Raiders put plenty of pressure on Weston, earning sevearal corners, but could not get another ball past Weston goalie Maddie Hayes. The Raiders even played a player short for 2 minutes after senior Rachel Campbell was called for a dangerous play.
Weston had only a handful of offensive attacks, but they were dangerous when they had it in Watertown’s end.
“We were pressuring the ball over the place, we needed to finish off some opportunities a little better,” Donahue said. “Weston is a quality program and they gave us a game today. It’s a credit to their program.”
A number of Watertown shots went just wide of the goal. With 7:03 left in the second half a Weston defender used her foot to keep a ball from going into the net, so Watertown was given a penalty stroke. Senior co-captain Emily Loprete took the shot and put it high into the left corner of the goal.
“I let everything be quiet, just like in practice,” Loprete said.
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown senior Emily Loprete scores on a penalty stroke to give Watertown a 2-0 late in the second half of the Section Final.
Donahue praised Loprete for volunteering to take the penalty stroke.
“She’s a very poised player. She went for it,” Donahue said. “They looked to me and she stepped forward and I was like, ‘Good decision!'”
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown junior Mikayla Paone shoots at the Weston goal in the first half of the North Section final at North Andover High School.
Senior co-captain Allie Doggett said she and her Watertown teammates had to play a complete game.
“It was definitely intense the whole entire game. No one ever let up,” Doggett said. “Even when we scored the second goal we knew the game wasn’t over. We were still giving 100 percent the whole time.”
Watertown will play South Section champ Dover-Sherborn in the state semifinal on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. at Reading Memorial High School.