Of Watertown’s first five games this Fall, only one was at home, back on Sept. 9th. It was a classic though, as Watertown edged Belmont 2-1 to reach the century mark undefeated for the second time in the program’s illustrious history. Thursday, on a beautiful and warm late-summer day, the Raiders played the first of five straight at home against the 0-3-3 Spartans. Watertown was looking to go to 6-0 on the young season. Coach Donahue’s squad did what it so often does — win — by completely controlling this game. Final score, Watertown 5 Stoneham 0.
The first half was ALL Watertown. Stoneham crossed midfield perhaps twice, and they were very short visits. Watertown had a jump to their step all afternoon, anticipating passing lanes, chasing down loose balls, attacking the cage, and most impressively, sharing the ball. What Watertown could not solve was the packed-in defense of Stoneham, and a goalie who stood on her head. She made five saves in the first period, nine more in the second. Only one shot got past her, a Sophia Setouhi goal just over four minutes into the first period. Co-captain Setouhi, who has had to deal with a balky ankle since injuring it in the opening game of the season, seemed healthy on this day, and was buzzing around all afternoon.
The other story of the first half was special team play. One of the staples of field hockey is what occurs when the defense commits a foul in the striking circle. When that happens, the offense is awarded a penalty corner. And what a reward it is. In ice hockey, for example, when a player gets called for a penalty, said player is sent to the penalty box for two minutes, and play resumes, 5-on-4 (aka, a power play). There’s no penalty box in field hockey. Instead, the offense is given a huge advantage. Here’s what it looks like prior to the offense putting the ball in play:
In this diagram, “A” is Watertown. A Raider is awarded the ball on the goal line. Six of her teammates are allowed to set up just outside the striking circle, and a seventh & eighth anywhere just beyond the 25-yard line. The penalized team is allowed four players, who must put on a face guard and stand in the goal cage along with the goalie. The remaining six players from the penalized team are allowed no closer than the 50 yard line. On the whistle, Watertown puts the ball in play, and then everyone can move. The offense runs set plays, while the four defenseman inside the cage charge in a variety of ways to combat the fact that it’s essentially 9-on-4 for the offense. It’s a power play, on steroids.
You would think the offense would score every time, but it’s harder than it seems. Thursday, Watertown was awarded five penalty corners in the first period, six in the second, four more in the third and ditto the fourth, for a total of 19 penalty corners! Now, unless I fell asleep at the switch, Watertown went 0-for-19. That is crazy, and certainly an issue that is going to find it’s way to the top of Coach Donahue’s practice to-do-list in the days ahead.
Despite the staggering advantage Watertown created for itself, Stoneham went to the half trailing the number one ranked Raiders only 1-0. But as is often the case, Watertown continued to work and hustle and persist and adapt, and in a blink of an eye over five minutes of the third period, Watertown scored three times. First to add their name to the scoresheet, one of six sophomores on the roster, Tyler Foley. A minute later, sophomore Avangeline Anderson put one in the cage, and with three minutes left in the period Setouhi scored her second goal of the game. In the fourth period, Junior Kaylee Master scored with under a minute to go. Just prior to that, Freshman goalie Natalia Keuchkarian was called upon to make her only save of the afternoon, but it was a doozy. A Stoneham player somehow snuck through the Watertown defense and streaked to the goal for a one-on-one with Keuchkarian. She calmly held her position, played the angle, a kicked out the shot by the Spartan player to preserve the shutout.
Watertown is off until Tuesday, Sept. 23 when they take on Somerset Berkley Regional, and then it’s back to league play on Thursday, Sept. 25 versus Wakefield.
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Scoring Summary
1st Period
10:45… Watertown 1 Stoneham 0… Goal, Sophia Setouhi
Shots on Goal: Watertown 5 Stoneham 0
Penalty Corners: Watertown 5 Stoneham 0
2nd Period
No Scoring
Shots on Goal: Watertown 9 Stoneham 0
Penalty Corners: Watertown 5 Stoneham 0
3rd Period
8:45… Watertown 2 Stoneham 0… Goal, Tyler Foley
7:45… Watertown 3 Stoneham 0… Goal, Avangeline Anderson
3:15… Watertown 4 Stoneham 0… Goal, Sophia Setouhi
Shots on Goal: Watertown 6 Stoneham 0
Penalty Corners: Watertown 4 Stoneham 0
4th Period
:45… Watertown 5 Stoneham 0… Goal, Kaylee Master
Shots on Goal: Watertown 5 Stoneham 1
Penalty Corners: Watertown 4 Stoneham 1
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1 2 3 4 F
Stoneham 0 0 0 0 0
Watertown 1 0 3 1 5