Nobles Varsity Field Hockey beat Milton 2-1 on Saturday to share the ISL championship with Rivers.
Captain Addy Keaveney (Class I) credited their loss to Rivers on Wednesday to the struggle to adopt a gameday mentality mid-week.
“It was such a big game and we were coming from school,” she said.
For their last regular-season game, all seniors started the game, a long-lasting Nobles vs. Milton tradition. Even with the Nobles’ fight, Milton secured a corner and goal off a rebound in the first quarter.
“It was an unfortunate goal early in the game, but we were able to use that as fuel,” forward Bea Trinque (Class I) remarked.
Into the second quarter, Milton gained momentum from their lead. The Dawgs held down the field, slowly gaining more scoring opportunities, including a shot by Captain Maddie Jaeger (Class I) with 6:30 left in the half.
Needing a goal to get back in the game, Nobles tied the score with a goal by forward Gretta Hulbig (Class I).
The team had many offensive opportunities with corners in the fourth quarter, most of which resulted in deflected shots. With 6:45 left in the game, Milton called for a timeout. During the break, Nobles’ determination was strengthened in the huddle.
“That was the time for everyone to give it their absolute all and commit fully,” forward Nora Shea (Class III) said.
Nobles finished the fourth quarter with newfound vigor, going into a thrilling overtime.
“You really want to possess the ball in terms of gameplay strategy,” Jaeger said regarding the team’s approach in overtime.
In the ISL, overtime is played 7 vs. 7 rather than the normal 12 vs. 12 during the 60 minutes of the game. This allows the girls to have more space per player, enabling them to move the ball up the field more frequently.
“We talked about really communicating and connecting passes,” Jaeger said.
Any spectator at the game would know that that is what they did, helping them receive three corners in a row early in overtime, each one a great opportunity to get a goal. With no more time on the clock, Nobles was able to run one last corner play, where Keaveney secured the game with a goal off a bouncing assist by Jaeger.
“We’ve always been close to the top. We’ve always been two or three [in the ISL rankings],” Coach Maura Sullivan said.
For the first time in 13 years, Nobles Girls Varsity Field Hockey has won (or shared) the ISL championship, a feat that will be a good send-off to the NEPSAC tournament next week.
