ABBY BOUDREAU makes one of her 11 saves during a 2-1 victory over Melrose at Landrigan Field. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High field hockey team made their state tournament bid official with a 6-0 win over Revere on Saturday morning. That victory came two days after the Warriors beat Melrose 2-1 at home for a season sweep.

Wakefield’s record improved to 9-6-1 with those two back-to-back victories, guaranteeing at least a .500 record which qualifies a team for an automatic state tournament bid. The Warriors were ranked 18th out 52 Div. 2 teams in the state in the MIAA’s latest power rankings system.

Junior Grace Seabury had three goals and one assist against Revere. Senior captain Christina Covelle had a goal and an assist. Juniors Brooke Fahey and Vivian Mottl each added a goal.

Senior captain Abby Boudreau had one save for her eighth shutout of the season. The reigning Freedom Division MVP is only allowing 1.5 goals per game this season as she has teamed up with a strong defense including senior captain Allida Kelliher, senior Riley Suntken, senior Emma Johnsen, senior Olivia Johnsen, senior Angelina Nardone and junior Charlotte Rossicone.

That defense had another strong game against Melrose on Thursday at Landrigan.

The Warriors took a 2-0 lead into halftime on goals by senior Yana Herzog and Seabury. Seniors Elise Theriault and Ally Forti earned assists.

The Red Raiders bounced back with a quick tally in the third quarter but the defense held off a strong push from the visitors to hold on for a one-goal win.

“We played hard in the first half,” said head coach Cara Luca. “In the second half, I felt we let our guard down a little in the third quarter and picked it back up in the 4th quarter.”

Wakefield wasted no time in taking momentum against their rivals, with Herzog’s goal coming just over three minutes in. Theriault made a strong run up the right side and sent a pass across the front of the goal where Herzog was waiting to hammer it home.

Wakefield’s defense held from there, including strong pickoffs by Olivia Johnsen on a corner and later by Rossicone who halted a breakaway.

Leading 1-0 to start the second quarter, the defense picked up where they left off as Kelliher and Suntken did a great job battling for possession and walling up any Melrose chances. Nardone had a good stick to deflect a Melrose shot and the midfielders also worked hard to the support the defense and clear as Melrose was putting pressure on to try and tie it.

Forti and Seabury took advantage of that momentum. Forti moved the ball up and Seabury made a sharp cut up the middle and turned on the jets to create a great scoring chance which she finished into the bottom left of the cage for a 2-0 lead.

Boudreau made a strong save immediately after the goal and stood up a couple more Melrose chances. The senior captain had 11 saves in this one.

Boudreau had to be even more ready in the third quarter when she made six saves with Melrose going all out to get one back. The goalie had a great kick save while leaving her net to stop a breakaway early on in the quarter. That play resulted in a heavy collision, but nothing Wakefield’s four-year starting ice hockey netminder couldn’t handle as she bounced right back up.

Melrose finally got on the board with 10:28 left in the third.

Emma Johnsen had a nice shot block but Melrose kept rushing, forcing Boudreau to make a stop with her blocker on a high shot.

On the Red Raiders’ fourth corner of the quarter, Kelliher blocked two shot attempts. On their fifth corner, Suntken and Emma Johnsen challenged the shooter to break up the visitors’ final chance just before the buzzer put an end to their relentless push.

The Warriors got back to the attack in the fourth and won more possession battles in the midfield to keep the pressure off their defense and preserve the 2-1 win.

The Warriors are back home today, 4 p.m. against Burlington. Wakefield won the first matchup 3-0 on Oct. 1.

They finish their regular season tomorrow night, 6 p.m. against Stoneham at Landrigan for Senior Night.

“We still have two games left that the girls need to finish strong,” said Luca, as the Warriors will look to improve on that No. 18 seed.

There will be more than 32 teams in the Div. 2 field hockey bracket as will be the case with most fall sports teams. While the final format is unclear, it’s likely that preliminary round games will create the final 32. In that format, with the top seed playing the 32nd and so on, the Warriors right now would likely need to play their first round game on the road with a potential no. 18 at No. 15 matchup (currently Norwood).

With two more wins, it is possible that the Warriors could move up a couple spots which would potentially allow them to play round one at home.