AMESBURY — There's nothing sweeter than busting out of a slump.
The Amesbury field hockey team (3-5-0) has been getting the wrong end of the stick lately — losing its last three games by the same number of points — but yesterday at Amesbury Sports Park, the Indians regained some swagger with a 1-0 victory over competitive but still winless North Reading (0-6-2).
"It was very nerve-wracking," said coach Gail Kelleher. "I thought it was a pretty evenly played game with lots of opportunities for both teams. They (North Reading) have definitely improved a lot, and you can tell the kids have done a lot of out-of-season work because they featured a lot of turf skills that you would learn out of season. I thought they played us very well."
The turf skill-set is something Kelleher's team should have the upper hand with, as the team — because of the Amesbury Middle School field reconstruction — has been forced to adapt to the turf field at the Amesbury Sports Park. Regardless of the space change, Kelleher and her team have been looking forward to competing at the turf spread.
"It was nice to finally play here. We've been waiting all season for this game, and I think it was good timing because we've been in a tailspin as of late," Kelleher said. "Our defense has been playing well, but we just haven't been able to score goals. Even today we weren't able to score multiple goals, but we were able to hold on."
Despite relinquishing most of their intensity once the initial goal was scored — a one-timer at the 14:43 mark by sophomore Emily Noonan off a crisp pass from junior Miranda Ballard — the Indians indeed did hold on.
But giving up intensity and spirit once a goal is scored, regardless of the other team's record, is an invitation for disaster.
"There was a point late in the game when we really kind of died," Kelleher said. "We flattened out and they turned it on, and they were doing a great job of trying to come back. But the nice thing was that in the end we were able to go on offense just enough to get the win."
Other than the game-winner, the contest was as close as games get as both teams had nearly identical amounts of ball control. Amesbury had five saves (Kate Goodwin), five shots on goal, and four offensive corners. North Reading mirrored the Indians in shots on goal and corners, but as was dictated by the final score, lacked in the saves department with four (Kiara Zani).
Cited as one of the main reasons why the Indians held on, senior forward Alyssa Lariviere, who along with junior Kerri Salvatore, helped instill the right amount of intensity when the game was suddenly too close for comfort.
"It was great to get the win," Lariviere said. "We started out really well but unfortunately our attack died down as the game progressed.
"It was once we went ahead by a point — and it's not that people were giving up — but it felt and looked like the energy was starting to let up. But toward the end of the game everyone started to pick it up, and it turned into a nice team effort."
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