Watertown’s schedule has allowed them to play nothing but home games of late, and that continued versus Melrose. This game was a one-sided affair that Watertown led from start to finish. Avangeline Anderson netted 5 goals today to lead the way for Watertown. Watertown peppered the Melrose goalie early and often, and she had trouble controlling rebounds, and her defense wasn’t very helpful when it came to clearing the ball. Anderson was always in position and scored a number of her goals off rebounds, her stick ready to knock the ball in the cage.
Anderson scored two in the first period, one in the second, one in the third and one in the fourth.
Kaylee Master had three goals of her own, Aisling Brennock two and Sophia Setouhi and Katelyn O’Connor each contributed one. Unofficial totals had Watertown with at least 25 shots on net to only three for Melrose. The interesting storyline for me is the simple fact that Watertown scored 12 goals — or more specifically they were allowed to score 12 goals. Now look, what I know about field hockey is next to nothing. It has been fun and an honor to cover Watertown Field Hockey the past few years. They work hard, they play hard, and the deserve all the accolades they receive.
So, by watching their games, you come to learn some things. One thing I’ve learned is that when Watertown gets up by seven goals they shut it down, so to speak. They stop taking shots on goal. They stop even taking the ball towards the goal. Today, they went up 6-0. Melrose scored, but Watertown came right back and scored to go up six at the half. Quickly they went up seven early in the third. But then they kept taking it to Melrose, and kept trying to score. It was unusual.
Who knows? Maybe Coach Donahue feels that she has a young team that needs all the game experience they can get and can’t afford to shut things down. I respect Coach Donahue very much, and I love how she never stops coaching and always sees something that needs teaching or correcting. So, this is certainly not a criticism of her. This is simply an observation, and mostly curiosity. It’s folly to even try and compare one Raiders team to another. The level of success is off the charts, and the level of play ridiculously high. I just have to think that something was going on, and that something wasn’t Coach Donahue asleep at the wheel. It was a teaching moment of one kind or another, and unfortunately Melrose took the brunt of the lesson.
Time will tell, but Watertown did finish the month of September 8-1. It included game three of the season when they held off a highly-ranked Belmont team in a nailbiter to make it 100 consecutive games without defeat. Two weeks later the Raiders faced Division 2 foe and defending D2 State Champ Somerset Berkley. It was a great field hockey game, one that D3 defending champ Watertown fell behind 2-0 and 3-1, but tied it at 3 after three. Somerset scored one early in the fourth to win the game 4-3. The point is, the month was not without challenges, and lessons that will serve them well through the month of October and into the tournament.
October’s lessons begins Friday October 3 when Reading visits Victory Field. They played a close game last year that Watertown won, so Reading will have revenge on their mind. As of today Reading is 4-2-2, has only let up seven goals all season, both losses were 2-1, and both ties 1-1.
Watertown’s final home game before going on the road for a couple will surely be a tester. The Raiders will surely be prepared and ready for the challenge!
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Scoring Summary
1st Period
12:55… Watertown 1 Melrose 0… Kaylee Master
11:40… Watertown 2 Melrose 0… Avangeline Anderson
10:10… Watertown 3 Melrose 0… Aisling Brennock
6:30… Watertown 4 Melrose 0… Avangeline Anderson
3:00… Watertown 5 Melrose 0… Kaylee Master
0:00… Watertown 6 Melrose 0… Katelyn O’Connor
2nd Period
14:02… Watertown 6 Melrose 1
6:50… Watertown 7 Melrose 1… Avangeline Anderson
3rd Period
13:40… Watertown 8 Melrose 1… Aisling Brennock
12:48… Watertown 9 Melrose 1… Avangeline Anderson
4th Period
9:30… Watertown 10 Melrose 1… Avangeline Anderson
8:10… Watertown 11 Melrose 1… Kaylee Master
5:50… Watertown 12 Melrose 1… Sophia Setouhi
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1 2 3 4 F
Melrose 0 1 0 0 1
Watertown 6 1 2 3 12