A slight rain fell and the field was slippery and covered with orange and yellow maple leaves as the Westport girls field hockey team lost in the first round of the state tournament 1-0 to Carver in a home game on Friday afternoon.

“This wasn’t our best game this season. I’m not sure if it was the weather or the stress of playing in the tournament,” said Head Coach Michelle Duarte.

“The field conditions were hard. We needed to get the game in,” said coach Duarte. “I threw some kitty litter down and raked the leaves up as best I could,” she said.

Trouble scoring

The Carver game was the same as it had been all season for the Cats. They had opportunities, but they couldn’t get the ball into the back of the net.

Coach Duarte started her star defensive player Maddie Avilla on the forward line, to try to get more of a push up front.

“Once again, another game where we were so closed to scoring, but we couldn’t. Just couldn’t,” said sophomore co-captain Maddie Avilla.

“She played half of the first half up there, said coach Duarte. “But we weren’t putting the ball in the net. It wasn’t working and they were definitely down our end, so I pulled her back and put freshman Kyra Ferreira up front,” she said.

Carver scores for a 1-0 lead

Meanwhile, Carver forward Charlotte McElroy buried a goal to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead with 19:23 left in the first half.

The Wildcats committed an infraction in the circle and the referee awarded Carver a penalty corner.

The inbound pass came out to Crusaders midfielder Holly Lauzon standing out at the top of the circle. Avilla playing the fly, chased the ball out to Lauzon who collected the pass, slid it to her side and edge hit the ball toward the net.

Westport goalkeeper Gabby Machairas made the initial stop, but the ball came to rest under her feet. It stayed their for a moment as the players seem to have lost sight of the ball till McElroy got free and hit it into the net.

“During the penalty corner, the fly and the trail chase after the inbound pass,” explained sophomore co-captain Jessica Carney.

“The fly chased after the ball and she missed it. I was trailing and it went wider than I was,” she said.

“So there was no-one behind me. It was just the ball and the goalie. And we didn’t get there in time.”

“We expected her to drive it and not edge hit it,” said Avilla. “Instead of driving the ball in, she took it to the side and used an edge hit. We weren’t expecting that. We rarely ever see an edge hit on a corner. It’s risky, but they pulled it off.”

Offensive push for the Cats

Towards the end of the second half and the Wildcats desperate for a goal, coach Duarte decided to put seven players on her forward line.

“At the end of the game I made two offensive changes, said coach Duarte. “I brought Maddie back up and put seven on the forward line.”

“I felt like we needed more push up there,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how many you lose by, we just needed to get one.”

The seven player push almost worked for the Wildcats as they were able to keep the ball in the Carver circle for last few minutes.

The Wildcats were awarded a penalty corner and had their best opportunity to score.

“The ball went behind their goalkeeper’s pads,” said Avilla. “Jenna Carvalho and I were trying really hard to tip it into the net.”

The referee blew the whistle to give the Wildcats another penalty corner, but seconds later time ran out.

“It was frustrating, said Avilla. “If it wasn’t the end of the game, we would have gotten another opportunity to try again.”

“We needed to cut to the ball faster,” said Carney. “We came out slow and it showed.”

“They got a goal on us. And our problem the whole season has been putting the ball in the net. And that’s what we needed to do in this game. And we didn’t do it,” Carney said.

Best seasons lay ahead

Despite the loss the young Cats feel like their best seasons are ahead of them.

“We still aren’t graduation any seniors, said coach Duarte. “The players have two more seasons to grow and get stronger.”

“I’ve got high hopes for next season,” said Avilla. It’s one of the reasons I’m not walking off the field in tears.”

“We are still a young team. We have two more seasons to grow. We are only going to get better. It’s only going to go up from here,” Avilla said.

Carney agreed. “We’ll work together all off season. We’ll work together and grow together and come back stronger.”