John Stark field hockey was a second-half team all season. Against Kingswood in the first round of the Division II playoffs, that second-half surge wasn’t enough for a win.
The No. 8 Generals fell to a pacey group of Knights at home on Tuesday afternoon, 3-2, in the D-II preliminary round. The Generals gave up two goals before halftime and one more late in the fourth quarter after pushing to close within 2-1.
“I really had confidence in my team. I realized when they got the third goal that we had it, that we could have bounced back, but it was just a tough game,” said John Stark senior midfielder Maxine Lundeen.
Kingswood’s third goal, to make the score 3-1 with 4:46 remaining in the game, was crucial. It came after two consecutive penalty corners by John Stark (8-8-1) at the other end of the field. A cleared ball sprung the Knights into a quick attack that Kingswood’s Anna Johnson finished with a diving shot.
Exactly one minute and 30 seconds after Kingswood’s third goal, Lundeen helped set up Stark’s second score with an assist that was redirected home by Lyla Raymond with 3:16 left in regulation. Kingswood ultimately put the game out of reach by keeping possession on the sidelines and running out the clock.
John Stark’s first goal of the game came similarly to Kingswood’s third. After senior Stark goalkeeper Rowin Ledy made a diving stick save on a run by Johnson, the Generals went the other way with the ball and senior Addie DeCew sent a strong shot to the goalie’s pads that ricocheted up into the air and looped into the goal.
That stroke of luck for the Generals on a breakaway sparked the push, in the same way that Kingswood’s counterattack was able to bury the game.
The Generals never hung their heads after the third Kingswood goal, but their first-half missteps were too much to come back from. They earned five penalty corners in the second half to Kingswood’s lone attempt but couldn’t find enough clear shots against a staunch defense.
DeCew said the team kept a “goldfish mentality” all season — forgetting errors quickly and jumping into action. She said she’ll take the lessons learned into her collegiate field hockey career at Mount Holyoke College, even if the season didn’t end the way she had hoped.
“If we played the full 60 minutes the way we did the second half, maybe it would have been different, but still proud of the team,” said John Stark head coach Cassidy Toms.
The win for Kingswood was a reversal of the regular-season match between the two, which Stark won, 1-0. This time around, the Knights’ offense came out with different looks and energy, stepping up to every ball.
The No. 9 Knights (9-7-1) will play No. 1 Souhegan (14-0-2) in the quarterfinals on Friday.