KP and Attleboro Field Hockey Teams Go Scoreless

With the sun shining brightly on a beautiful autumn afternoon in Wrentham, Attleboro and King Philip battled for a field hockey victory. 

As the crowds cheered their respective teams on, the two squads moved the ball back and forth in an effort to grab the Hockomock League win. In the long run, both teams came away victorious, as the two schools walked off the field with a 0-0 tie.

“I’m really pleased with the way we came out — fired up. We put a lot of pressure on them; we were relentless,” KP Coach Liz Hathaway said. “It was really nice to come away with a league tie, but I would have liked to have gotten the win.” 

The scoreless outcome put the Warriors at 2-4-3, while the Blue Bombardiers went to 2-2-3. Although the two offenses continued to put pressure on the keepers, it was the defenses that shined on this particular afternoon.  

King Philip rode a wave the last four minutes of the first half that went into the early minutes of the second half, but the Attleboro back line was stellar. Goaltender Kelsey Wagner was magnificent, kicking away shot after shot, while senior captain Emily Mayers was the driving force behind the defense every time the Warriors ventured into the Attleboro zone.

“We did an excellent job marking up. We’ve been working on that the last couple of games,” Attleboro Coach Sue Hamilton said. “We tied these guys [King Philip] and tied Mansfield last Friday, so it seems to be working for us.”

After another big stop by the Blue Bombardiers defense on yet one more fast break by the home team, Attleboro moved the ball upfield and turned the tides on the Warriors.  For the next twenty minutes, the visitors were the one controlling the tempo of the game.

“First half, there was white everywhere and, although we had our opportunities on breakaways in the second half, we continued to miss,” the KP coach said. “Attleboro took the momentum away from us for probably a good 15 minutes of the second half."

While Hathaway was hating on the Blue, Hamilton was pleased with the way her girls were playing.

“We’re a young team with a lot of talent, but we lack varsity experience. We only have three or four girls that played varsity field hockey last year,” she said. “After graduating a whole group of seniors, this young team is beginning to gel and starting to click.”

Despite the scoreless game, King Philip had 14 corners and 12 shots find its way to Wagner, while Attleboro had 4 corners and two shots. 

The Blue Bombardiers will be back in action on Thursday when Dartmouth comes to town at 3:30pm, while KP will be idle until Saturday afternoon (3pm start) when they host Dover-Sherborn.