AGAWAM — The last two minutes of the field hockey game between No. 3 Agawam and West Springfield on Tuesday illustrated how Mia Wood has grown as a player over the last year.
As a sophomore on the Brownies junior varsity team last season, she didn’t play a lot but she watched and listened to the team’s seniors and learned that when you’re a forward in front of the cage, being passive is never a good option.
In the final two minutes of Tuesday’s matchup, with the Terriers leading 2-1 and with the game on the line, Wood wasn’t passive.
The junior scored two goals in the final two minutes of play to put Agawam ahead and earn the team a 4-3 victory.
Wood scored all four goals for the Brownies, with Nina Liqouri, Gabriella Shayda and Emmerson White each recording assists. Isabella Vega, Jordan LaValley and Christine Murdzia scored for West Springfield. Lauren Cauley had an assist for the Terriers.
Wood leads Agawam in goals this season through four games with 12.
“Since she stepped on the field in preseason she has been going to the goal, going to the goal, going to the goal,” Brownies head coach Karen Gomez said.
The Brownies controlled the beginning of the game with stellar midfield play. Liquori created scoring opportunities down the right wing and sliced balls to Wood for scoring opportunities, but the Terriers were able to hold on and get back on defense to turn attempts away.
Agawam finally broke through with 20 seconds left in the first quarter when Liquori flew down the right wing and used a head fake to lose a defender. She cut inside and dropped the ball off to Wood, who turned and snuck the ball inside the far post for the game’s first goal.
The Terriers started to settle in offensively during the second quarter and created opportunities in transition. West Springfield broke through with less than 30 seconds left in the half when Vega scored from the left wing off a pass from Cauley on the far side.
Brownies goalie Gabrielle Zollo came out of her cage and made three big stops to keep the Terriers out of the net before Vega eventually scored.
Gomez feels like the sequence could have been played better.
“Our goalie had three great saves, but everybody stood back and watched and didn’t get the rebound,” she said. “Those are the things that we can’t stand and watch. We have to think ahead.”
With the goal, Agawam was no longer going into halftime with a lead, affecting the team’s energy going into break.
“It definitely had an effect,” Wood said about the goal. "We said we needed to pick up the intensity and coach always says we need to have mental toughness. Going into the third we knew we had to do something.”
The Terriers continued to get transition opportunities during the quarter but the Brownies back line of defense turned them away. Wood scored her second goal with 2:50 to go in the third quarter from a tight angle on the right wing with a hard shot inside the near post to put Agawam ahead 2-1.
Then the fourth quarter happened.
With 10:52 to go in the frame, LaValley split between two Brownies defenders near the cage and scored to tie the game. Two minutes later, Murdzia scored off a deflection to give West Springfield the lead.
The day before Tuesday’s game, Agawam played against Holyoke. Gomez thinks that the lack of rest and recovery caught up to the team late in the game.
"These girls know how to play and understand it, but they were tired,” Gomez said. “But we talk about mental toughness and how important it is to dig down and finish. ... We said in the fourth, you have to dig down and play as a team. If you trust it, it will come.”
Before Wood’s two goals it didn’t look like the Brownies would be able to get over the hump. West Springfield controlled the ball at times in Agawam’s defensive zone and took time off the clock.
Then Wood got her stick on the ball.
With 1:57 to go, White slid the ball over to Wood on the left side of the goal. Wood settled the ball and rifled in a shot to tie the game.
One minutes later, with 50 seconds to go in the game, Wood weaved through two West Springfield defenders near the cage and slotted the ball past the keeper to lead her team to victory.
Through its first four games, the Brownies have played in some close matchups. Over the last few days of practice, Gomez has seen a shift in the team’s mindset. At the beginning of the season, she felt like the team, herself included, made excuses due to the sport’s modifications and the circumstances of the season.
But over the last few days she has seen that mindset fade away. Now, she feels like the program is playing with a newfound intensity and focus that wasn’t there the first few weeks.
“We are here to win,” Gomez said. "This is how we are going to do it. We were making excuses, now we are playing every game like it could be our last.”
"wood" - Google News
October 21, 2020 at 08:25AM
https://ift.tt/3ki43po
Late goals from Mia Wood pushes No. 3 Agawam field hockey past West Springfield (photos) - masslive.com
"wood" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3du6D7I
No comments:
Post a Comment