Edged by M-E, beat undefeated Ipswich
Published October 29, 2020
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
NORTH READING — The North Reading High field hockey team had their Senior Day on Tuesday against visiting Manchester-Essex. The road Hornets beat the home Hornets 4-3 in a close game. Trailing 3-2 late in the game, Manchester-Essex scored twice in the final 1:47 to pull out the win.
“They were more hungry than we were that last 1:47,” admitted North Reading head coach Andrea Slaven, whose squad fell to 5-3-1 overall. “They were able to capitalize on some of our breakdowns.”
In the first quarter, senior captain Morgan Majeski scored just 1:24 in assisted by senior Paige Thibedeau.
Manchester-Essex tied it with 5:29 left in the first and took the lead 1:38 into the second quarter.
North Reading goalie and senior captain Emma Borland (11 saves) then turned back a penalty stroke with 4:55 left to keep the score at 2-1 heading into the half.
After a scoreless third quarter, senior captain Ava Czarnota tied the game up, unassisted, with 7:57 left. Freshman Keely Hannon, then scored to give North Reading a 3-2 lead with 7:12 left on a 6-on-4 advantage.
However, Manchester-Essex then scored those two late goals to pick up the win.
“We should have done a better job of capitalizing earlier in the game,” pointed out Slaven.
Before the game, the eight Hornet seniors were honored: captains Borland, Czarnota, Majeski and Rees Lord, and Thibedeau, Morgan Craig, Amelia Milano and Brianna Guidebeck.
On Oct. 23, the news was much better as the Hornets won at Ipswich by a final score of 3-1.
Czarnota led the way with two goals and she also assisted on Thibedeau’s tally to finish with three points.
Borland turned back 11 Tiger shots.
“They were 5-0 coming into that game,” recalled Slaven. “That was our biggest win of the season by far.”
Czarnota’s first tally came with 3:02 left in the first quarter. Thibedeau then made it 2-0 1:40 later.
The Tigers cut the lead to one off a rebound with 12:09 left in the second quarter.
Czarnota’s final goal came with 6:14 left in the fourth assisted by Hannon.
“Ava gets double teamed a lot but she showed a lot of poise,” said Slaven.
Slaven was also pleased with the three defensive stops the team had as Amelia Milano had two of them while Rees Lord had the other one.
“It was the best team defense I have seen this year,” said Slaven.
Next Tuesday, the Hornets wrap up the regular season as they go to Georgetown. That game will start at 4:15 p.m.
