Published October 8, 2020
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
NORTH READING — With only six returning players this fall, the North Reading High field hockey team enters this season as one of the most inexperienced teams in the Cape Ann League.
Last season, the Hornets lost to Gloucester, 3-0, in the first round of the Division 2 North state tournament to end the year at 9-8-2. Nine veterans from that team graduated.
Four of the six players that fourth-year head coach Andrea Slaven welcomed back for the team’s first practice on Sept. 18 are this year’s quad captains.
The four senior captains are goalie Emma Borland, forward Ava Czarnota, midfielder Rees Lord and forward Morgan Majeski.
Paige Thibedeau is a senior forward and she is the team’s top returning scorer from last year. The other player back is Majeski’s younger sister, Mary, and she is a forward.
The Hornets were not able to play a scrimmage which made the preseason tougher.
“This has been a challenge,” said Slaven. “The girls have put in the time during the summer and it is nice to be together but it would have been good to play a preseason game.”
Another challenge is the new rules put in by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) due to the coronavirus.
Players will be reduced from 11 to seven per team on the field, one of whom must be a goalie.
All players must wear masks and bench players must be at least six feet apart on the sidelines.
There will be no penalty corners, instead fouls in the circle would be 25-yard hits. All players must be five yards away on free hits. There won’t be any bully’s, instead it will be alternating possession.
There will be four 15-minute quarters instead of two 30-minute halves.
There won’t be any pregame stick inspections by the officials as the coaches will be responsible for making sure all of their players equipment is legal. Officials also cannot use traditional whistles. Electronic whistles and air horns are allowed.
“You have to substitute more and the scores will be higher because of the fast breaks with all of the extra space on the field,” explained Slaven.
There will only be league games this year and no state tournament. The Cape Ann League will have their own tournament at the end of the season in November.
The schedule for the Hornets will feature 10 games and they will play each CAL team only once with five home and five road games.
The Hornets improved to 1-1 on Tuesday afternoon as they hammered visiting Triton, 7-1. This one was decided early as North Reading scored five times in the first quarter.
“We came out fired up,” said Slaven. “We did a good job with our fundamentals and took advantage of a team that lost a lot of their starters from last year.”
Czarnota led the attack with a career-high five points with three goals and two assists. It was her first-career hat trick.
“She plays in the middle for us and was able to set the tone on offense with her shooting and passing,” said Slaven.
The Majeski sisters, Thibedeau and Lord had the four other goals for the Hornets.
Borland went to 1-1 in net with eight saves as Triton broke up the shutout attempt early in the fourth quarter.
On Oct. 2, the Hornets lost their season opener as they were doubled up by visiting Newburyport, 6-3.
The Clippers scored the first two goals of the game in the first quarter but Mary Majeski got the locals on the scoreboard late in the first.
However, the Clippers score again late in the first to increase the lead to two again.
Majeski cut the lead to one again early in the second but the Clippers scored the final two goals of the quarter to head to halftime leading, 5-2.
Majeski then notched her first career hat trick early in the third quarter, assisted by Czarnota, to make it 5-3 but Newburyport scored later on in the third to pull away again.
“It seemed like every time we scored, they would answer,” pointed out Slaven.
Slaven was pleased with Majeski, not only on offense but her defense as well.
“She stepped up and her defense led to her offense,” said Slaven.
Slaven also had high remarks for Lord.
“We lost four defensemen to graduation and she did a good job,” she said.
Borland made five saves.
The Hornets’ next game will be at Lynnfield on Friday at 4:15 p.m. They then play Pentucket at the Amesbury Sports Park on Columbus Day at 10 a.m. The next day, the Hornets welcome Rockport with that game starting at 4:15 p.m.
