Sachems halt Watertown streak

Eventually, everything must come to an end.

As the gold standard of field hockey in Massachusetts, Watertown came into yesterday’s Middlesex League contest against Winchester riding a historic 184game unbeaten streak (124game winning streak).

But the Sachems, behind first-half goals from Maddison Micciche and Clare Moloney-Kolenberg, and a second-half tally by Nicki Micciche, halted the Raiders’ streak in its tracks with a no-doubt-about-it, 3-0, victory in Winchester.

“We were totally fired up for this game,” said Winchester coach Michelle White. “Obviously, there is a lot put on the game when anybody plays Watertown because year after year they are phenomenal. But the girls never doubted themselves, and they sure didn’t play like that. We didn’t care what the name on the shirt was and we were able to play our game and win.”

Winchester (2-0) came out flying from the opening faceoff.

The Sachems tested Watertown’s All-Scholastic goalie Jonna Kennedy (10 saves) early and often before finally breaking through when Maddison Micciche tucked an unassisted goal into the back of the net with 15:05 left in the opening half. And, just eight minutes later, Moloney-Kolenberg made it a 2-0 game by tapping in a loose ball that had popped out of a scrum in front of Kennedy.

Freshman Nicki Micciche extinguished any flickering hopes of a second-half Watertown rally as she tipped a teammate’s shot past Kennedy with 12:17 left in regulation, extending the Sachems’ lead to 3-0.

For White and her team this was a statement win for the program, but in the grand scheme of things, it is still just one win.

“We are going to move on and we will need to correct some things,” White said. “To win this game is huge, but to think about where we are and where we can be is even more huge and we are looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Always gracious in victory, Watertown’s legendary coach Eileen Donahue was even more so in defeat.

“Bottom line was Winchester wanted the game more and Winchester played harder, and we have no excuses,” said Donahue. “There has never been a focus on a streak, even through this whole experience, so I am now focused on tomorrow and I am giving credit to (Winchester) because that (victory) will be their legacy to defeat a team that hadn’t lost in all those games.”

In another Middlesex League game, Vanessa Kaddaras had a hat trick plus an assist as Wakefield edged Reading, 4-3.

In Cape Ann action, Kaley Lattos scored the lone goal as Rockport (3-0) beat Georgetown, 1-0 . . . . Lauren Dawe, Shannon Brennan, and Meghan Winn each notched a goal to lift Newburyport (1-1) past Pentucket, 3-0 . . . . Nicole Amyouny’s first-half tally held up for Masconomet (2-1) in a 1-0 win over North Reading.

Alex Ramsen had a goal as Wellesley (3-0-1) edged Norwood 2-0 in the Bay State Conference.

Boys soccer

Jack Zuccala and Dylan Giddings had two goals apiece as Minuteman (1-1) edged Cambridge Charter 5-4 in a nonleague game.

Jacob Cummings and Sam Stowell each scored as Franklin (1-2) beat Milford, 2-1, in the Hockomock League.

AJ Acloque scored twice and had an assist as Cambridge (1-0) defeated Newton South, 4-1, in the Dual County League.

Jan Fleming scored a pair of goals to push Duxbury (10) past Quincy, 3-0, in the Patriot League.

Girls soccer

Grace Oliver netted two goals and two assists to power Rockland (4-0) to a 4-3 victory over Carver in the South Shore League.