Nauset Warriors end season with 2-1 loss to Mansfield Hornets
Matt Goisman @MattGoismanCCT
MANSFIELD — Mansfield and Nauset combined for nine penalty corners in the first half, but none produced a goal.
Instead, the host Hornets used a pair of hard open-field pushes in the second half to edge the Warriors and keep their postseason alive.
Abby Varricchione scored a goal and assisted on another as No. 15 Mansfield beat No. 18 Nauset 2-1 in the Division 1 South preliminary round on Wednesday.
Mansfield (11-6-2) will face No. 2 New Bedford in the first round on Saturday. Nauset ended its season 9-6-4.
The Warriors were in their first South Sectional tournament since losing to Mansfield in the 2016 preliminary round.
Photo Gallery: Nauset vs. Mansfield girls hockey
"I hate this game and I love it, because it breaks your heart," said Nauset coach Cheryl Poore. "'I'm proud of them. They came a long way this season, because they lost all of their starters except for Connor (Boucher). I was a new coach, and I was working them really hard. They embraced that, and they were outstanding."
Mansfield had a number of chances to score late in the first half, but Nauset senior Connor Boucher blocked eight shots before the horn and finished the game with 11 saves. The Hornets came out strong in the second half, however, and needed just seconds to weave through Nauset's defense and get into the circle.
Varricchione slid the ball over to Stori Rounds for the goal and 1-0 lead just 49 seconds into the half. Varricchione added a goal of her own with 16:35 left off a rebound after Boucher had turned away a teammate's shot.
"In the last five minutes of the first half, we started to play better, a little looser," said Mansfield coach Theresa Nyhan. "It was our goal to carry it through. The first two minutes of every half, you have to have a big push."
Sophie Christopher answered for Nauset with 12:02 left to pull back within 2-1, but Mansfield's defense continued to hold after a slow start. The Hornets gave up five penalty corners in the first 15 minutes of the game, but none led to a shot on goal. After that, Mansfield allowed just one corner with 2:45 left in the first half and none in the second half.
Zoe Bates had a chance to equalize late for Nauset, but Kayla Hunter (five saves) batted away her redirect in the circle. Hunter later ran out of the goal to bust up a Nauset attack in the final minute, and Lindsay Devine intercepted Nauset's last possession to clinch the win.
"We have outrun every team we've played this year," Poore said. "Not scoring in that first half was critical, and we took some really, really good shots. That's been our story all year."
Boucher wrapped up his varsity career with another great performance in a year full of them. One sequence in the first half saw him dive to stop Gabby Devlin's breakaway shot, come out of his crouch to pad-block a high shot off a penalty corner, then turn aside another shot off another corner, all in the span of about a minute.
"I've learned so much this year, and I feel like I've come very far," Boucher said. "It sounds crazy, but I feel like three-on-zero (situations) can be easier sometimes than the whole team being in the net. It just takes a second for that little push to get by."
Boucher played his final game for Nauset, as did senior captains Emily Frazier and Kay McNamara. Boucher said he's hoping to continue his field hockey career in college, something Poore said was a strong possibility.
"Connor was phenomenal," Poore said. "His athleticism is unmatched. He's still a little raw in goal, and we've brought people in to work with him. His acrobatic saves are pretty mind-blowing, and he's only going to get better."