The Suzie’s field hockey team has officially ended their regular season with a perfect record of 16-0! (The 18-0 comes from the two CMASS games.) They are currently holding a #3 spot in the Power Rankings, right below #2 Monomoy and #1 Uxbridge.
Why is this important to them? Well, the girls have worked hard all season long and have played tough teams, including Frontier, who they beat in the Elite Eight in last year’s state tournament. Each team the girls played wanted to be the one to ruin their record. They didn’t let any team from the 16 games they played win, though. Some of these games were even shutouts for goalkeeper Allison Hastings.
They won 3-0 in the CMASS playoffs on Wednesday, October 23, against Notre Dame. On Saturday, October 26, the girls won the CMASS finals against Hopedale 2-0 and took home the title.
Just because the regular season and CMASS are over doesn’t mean the Suzies are done. Now they have to focus on States. The bracket for the state tournament was released on Wednesday, October 30. It consists of the top 32 teams in the Power Rankings. Along with this, the final Power Rankings came out.
The Suzies have already played their first game, the Round of 32 against North Brookfield. They won 7-0, advancing them to the next round. This was head coach, Sarah Bellavance’s 150th win! Additionally, senior, Katerina Quill scored her 50th career goal!
On Tuesday, November 5, they play St John Paul II at Northbridge at 6:30. This will be the Sweet 16 game, meaning only 16 teams remain.
How does the bracket work?
There are two sides of the bracket. Half (16) of the teams are on one side, and the other half are on the other. There are five total rounds in the tournament for each division. In each round, half of the teams get knocked out. It starts with the Round of 32, then the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, the Final 4, and then finally, the state championship. After the championship, one team goes home with the trophy per division.
On Wednesday, October 16, 2024, (after beating D2 Westborough) I interviewed head coach, Sarah Bellavance:
How has this season gone in relation to how you wanted it to go?
“I think it’s going better than expected and exceeding my expectations, especially after those four tough games last week. I definitely thought that we would have had some bad moments that could have gotten the best of us, but we rose to the occasion.”
What makes this group of girls special?
“Aside from their personalities, the thing that makes this group special is just the comradery and experience you’ve had these past two seasons, and the toughness, physically and mentally together as a team. When we have tough moments we have leaned on bonds and team toughness. With games like Westborough when everyone has the same goal, we rise to the occasion.”
Is this season going how you hoped/expected?
There is still a lot of the season left (the tournament/post-season). The regular season has gone better than expected, but I always envisioned us hopefully being here and know what we are capable of.
Keep an eye out for the Suzies in states this year, as they’re hoping to bring home the big win this year.
