Though there were some uneasy moments in the early stages of No. 7 Bishop Brady’s first round playoff matchup against No. 10 Winnisquam on Tuesday, the Giants found their footing late in the first quarter to help catapult them to a 4-0 victory.
The Bears (5-8-2) had sustained offensive pressure for the first seven minutes or so, but Bishop Brady (9-6-0) subsequently grabbed the momentum. Freshman Marcella Tonge scored the first goal for the Giants with 5:34 left in the opening quarter.
With 4:52 remaining in the second quarter, senior Margaret Sheehan put one in the back of the net off of a corner to make it 2-0 heading into halftime. Then with under a minute left in the third, senior Izzy Cochrane tacked on another goal before Sheehan erased any faint hopes Winnisquam had of making a comeback, icing the game with 3:59 to play in the fourth quarter.
In their last regular season game on Saturday, a 4-0 win over Hopkinton, Giants’ head coach Kelly Owen said she wanted her team’s focus to be on playing a complete game from start to finish. She admitted they didn’t fully get there in Tuesday’s game, but scoring first was key.
“They needed a little fire lit under them, and they responded,” she said after the win. “We responded earlier (after) we’d been responding a lot late, so that was better.”
Bishop Brady finished the regular season having won four of its final five games, coming on the heels of a 2-4 start to the season. Owen’s team reached the D-III championship game last year and now heads to the quarterfinal on Friday where No. 2 Newfound (12-2-0) awaits.
As for Winnisquam, the Bears close out what’s been a rollercoaster year on the field. They started 0-3, then won four of five and then dealt with an 0-3-2 stretch before beating Franklin in the regular season finale. On Tuesday, the Bears had chances, but couldn’t capitalize.
The season-ending loss closed the book on the careers of seven seniors. For head coach Samantha Magoon, this concluded just her second year as Winnisquam’s varsity coach, but she’d known this senior class for awhile having also coached them in middle school.
“The laughs we had, the connection that we’ve had,” Magoon said of what she’ll miss the most about this group. “I just lost the last of my girls that I started with seven, eight years ago, so I’ll definitely miss the bond that we all had.”
Looking ahead to next year, Magoon hopes the chemistry that’s existed will continue, despite a roster that will look a bit different.
“I like how my team is able to come together and work well together,” she said. “I know that my seniors and my team are most sad that it’s done, that they don’t get to be together. To lose all those girls will definitely change the dynamic, but we’ll see what that brings for next year.”
Meanwhile, Bishop Brady’s season is extended for at least one more game. The Giants will have a tall task against a Newfound team that finished the season on a five-game win streak during which the Bears outscored their opponents 11-1, but Owen knows her team has a shot.
“Anything can happen,” she said. “We have to defend as 11 and attack as 10. That’s super, super important. Everyone has a role and they gotta play well together.”