Charlie Breitrose
Watertown field hockey players after senior Sydney Poulin scored the game winning goal late in the North Section final against Manchester-Essex.
NORTH ANDOVER – A late strike by senior Sydney Poulin gave the Watertown High School field hockey team the 1-0 victory over Manchester-Essex and clinched the team’s 1oth straight North Section title Saturday afternoon.
The Div. 2 North Section final, played in frigid temperatures at North Andover High School, remained up in the air late into the game. Watertown (20-1) had controlled play the first half and most of the second half, but Manchester-Essex (19-1-1) junior goalie Christina Calandra made several saves.
In the last 10 minutes of the game Manchester-Essex got a series of corners and seemed to be controlling the tempo of the game. Raiders goalie Jonna Kennedy did not have to make many saves, but the ones she did were under pressure, and late.
“Our goalie made some nice saves, too, when Manchester had some chances right near the end. And our defense corner people did a nice job,” said Watertown field hockey coach Eileen Donahue. “(Kennedy) made two beautiful saves in a row, especially batting it out (of the air).”
Charlie Breitrose
The Watertown High School field hockey team celebrates winning the North Section title in North Andover on Saturday.
With the Hornets still pressuring and the clock running down, Poulin grabbed the ball outside the circle, dribbled in and fired the ball past the goalie with 1:37 left in the game.
“She was relentless. She wouldn’t give up on the play, which was nice because a couple of other times before that happened she missed the ball for us on the corner,” Donahue said. “That made up for that big time.”
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown senior Sydney Poulin dribbles the ball upfield against Manchester-Essex in the North Final.
Poulin said she was just thinking about putting offensive pressure on Manchester-Essex.
“We just had to keep attacking all game,” Poulin said. “We knew we needed to score. We just had the get it on net, keep shooting and get one into the back of the net.”
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown senior Lauren Petrillo runs upfield with the ball in the North Section Final.
Watertown came into the game in the unusual spot of being the lower seed. The Hornets were the top seed in the North with no losses and one tie, while Watertown was second seeded with one loss. Senior Lauren Petrillo said the win took a strong effort from all the Raiders.
“Its a team effort. Everyone is a part of it – everyone on and off the field,” Petrillo said. “That was a really good team, we respect them we. We work on ourselves. and we play our own game. They were really good though.”
Watertown now plays in the State Semifinal on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at Braintree High School against the South Champion, Dennis-Yarmouth. The game time has not been announced.
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown raised the North Section Championship Trophy for the 10th straight year on Saturday after beating Manchester-Essex 1-0.