Monomoy's Emma Mawn (4) works to push the ball back into Shark possession during game play on Sunday against Foxboro. Kat Szmit Photo
HARWICH ─ It wasn't the way Monomoy field hockey head coach Cheryl Poore wanted her team's regular season to end, but in spite of strong play all around, the Sharks fell 3-2 to Foxboro on Sunday morning, capping off their 2016 with a record of 11-5-2 overall.
“I think it was a pretty evenly matched game,” said Poore. “So it's a bit of a heartbreaker.”
It was the game that almost wasn't, courtesy of Mother Nature, who unleashed such fury on Friday night when the match was originally scheduled that the game had to be moved to Sunday. Initially, the head coaches had opted to play what they could of the game, but when the whipping winds toppled a goal, the game was immediately rescheduled.
Foxboro struck first in the match, but the Sharks quickly responded with Emma Mawn knocking the ball into the Warrior net at 17:35 in the opening half to tie the game 1-1. Unfortunately for Monomoy, Foxboro gained the advantage when it came to penalty corners, allowing them access to the host's goal, which they capitalized on twice.
After the Warriors netted their second goal of the game in the second half, the Sharks once again rebounded, this time with Mawn and Hannah Potter funneling the ball to Carlee Tolley, who sent it in for the score just past the 24-minute mark.
Foxboro broke the 2-2 tie roughly 20 minutes into the second half. Monomoy was looking to even things up once again, but were seemingly robbed of a corner of their own and the clock ticked out before the Sharks could get to the net again.
“I felt we had a corner play there, which is what we were trying to do, but we didn't get the call,” said Poore. “Had we gotten that, we might have gotten off a nice corner and maybe a second shot. The kids were so fired up I thought we were at least going to tie it up, so it's a hard loss.”
With several substitution players out, much of Monomoy's squad was forced to play the entire game, a daunting and exhausting task that Poore felt they rose to well.
“The kids played hard,” she said. “It was really such a team effort.”
Monomoy was seeded 12th in the MIAA tournament and will travel to Scituate today (Thursday) for a 3 p.m. first round game against the fifth-seeded Sailors. Foxboro (15-2-1) is seeded No. 2, with Seekonk (14-2-0) in the top spot.
Poore is hoping for a solid shot at the South title this season.
“I hope we're the boulder in the path of others,” she said. “Foxboro thinks they're going to win the South Sectional. I think both teams are equally talented.”