Mary Martinson toed the eight-meter arc and her all-white stick rested comfortably on her right shoulder.
Concord High didn’t need its senior midfielder to score with under three minutes in the first half. It had a three-goal lead and controlled the game through possession despite the slim margin. But Martinson wanted one more.
One more extended the Crimson Tide’s lead. One more gave her a hat trick on the night. Ultimately, one more gave her career goal No. 200.
Martinson hit the coveted mark on her third free-position attempt in a 90-second span and provided one of many highlights in the Tide’s 17-6 rout of Salem on Wednesday night at Memorial Field.
Concord entered the game with something to prove to itself. It knew it was going to be the first team to miss the playoff cut in Division I since the top eight make the tournament. It’s been a season of high highs (three-game win streak to close out the season) and tough lows (four-game losing streak against lower-seeded playoff teams).
That knowledge made it easier for Martinson, her teammates and the entirety of the program to play freely. Martinson, a commit for Denison University in Granville, Ohio, forced a Blue Devils timeout after she extended the Tide’s lead to 4-1 only 2:36 into the game.
Concord’s offense runs from behind the net and is predicated on off-ball movements, including two cutting players in front of the crease. It ran seamlessly against Salem as goals were scored at will in the second half. Emma Beaujouan and Martinson scored not even two minutes apart in response to a Blue Devils goal to maintain an 11-4 lead. Salem scored again, but there wasn’t a chance for a rebuttal, a comeback or even possession following its fifth goal.
Instead, the Tide once and for all took over. They scored six straight with a cast of characters including Sarah Leuci, Greta Norton and Beaujouan. Even senior defender Danielle Lemay scored after a quick position change, another highlight.
Still, none shone brighter than No. 200 for Martinson in her curtain call for the crimson and white.
“It’s so surreal,” she said. “I got 100 last year on senior night, so this just felt so special with this new team and everything that we’ve faced.”
It’s been a season of transition for the Tide. They welcomed a new head coach as program alumna and two-time state champion Ashley Durepo embarked her first season at the helm. New coaches can mean new ideas, new schemes and the buzzword – culture. But Durepo brought stability with her and her knowledge of Concord, chiefly noted with the addition of longtime coach Terry Anderson on staff as an assistant.
In an up-and-down season, wide-margin losses early on turned into smaller ones, some even into wins.
And the victory against Salem can be important for a program that retains over 80% of its roster.
“I think it was a good opportunity for our younger kids to see what we’re trying to build here and to see what these seniors were able to accomplish,” Durepo said. “Our freshmen and sophomores were real excited and, for them, it was great being out on this field having the opportunity to play in front of the community.”
Concord missed the playoffs by one spot, but it has something to build toward and something to be excited about with its large roster retention. It’ll miss its three seniors in Martinson, Lemay and Colette Brochu, but their impact – especially in a career where a season was canceled because of the pandemic – will last long after their departure.
“It’s been one crazy ride,” Martinson said.