Newburyport’s Woekel plays hero
Delaney Woekel wanted to finally bring her Newburyport field hockey team to a state championship game.
On Tuesday, the senior forward fulfilled that wish, scoring twice, including the winner in double overtime, to send the No. 2 Clippers to their first Division 3 state title game with a 2-1 semifinal victory over No. 3 Dover-Sherborn at Burlington High School.
“I needed to get the ball in the back of the net,” said Woekel. “That was all I was thinking about.”
Dover-Sherborn (17-3-2) came out of halftime with speed and Lily Hatfield scored on the second, giving the Raiders a 1-0 lead with 7:10 left in the frame. Just 1:15 later, Newburyport answered, as Woekel arched a shot into the Raiders’ net.
Newburyport (22-1) will face the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between No. 1 Watertown and No. 4 Sandwich.
Division 2 State
Norwood 2, Somerset Berkley 1 — Offense wins games, but second-seeded Norwood is hoping defense wins a championship.
Holding a one-goal lead in the final five minutes of its semifinal, the Mustangs’ defense smothered several Somerset Berkley scoring chances and watched as the No. 3 Raiders’ last-ditch shot sailed wide left in the waning seconds to clinch a spot in their first state championship game.
“Defense wins championships,” said Norwood captain Shea Larkee, who assisted on both Mustang goals. “That was our motto going in and today we proved it.”
Somerset Berkley (20-1-1) arrived at Middleborough High School averaging 6.3 goals per game but managed to find the back of the net only once, when Ryan Crook scored unassisted at 7:59 in the third quarter.
Norwood got on the board just before halftime when Morgan Naumann took a pass from Larkee and fired it in at 13:30. After Crook tied it up, the Mustangs took the lead for good when Larkee fired a shot off Valcourt’s pad, which deflected to Emily Spadorcia, who buried it.
Norwood (20-2) will face No. 1 Reading (21-1) on Saturday at WPI (time TBD).
Reading 5, Hingham 0 — After a scoreless first quarter, top-seeded Reading (21-1), who has only been shut out once this season, was hungry for a goal. Then, something clicked.
Just over two minutes into the second quarter, as the Rockets chased the ball up the field, sending shot after shot toward the goal, it was sophomore forward Danielle Bowers who found the back of the net to break the drought.
Senior forward Autumn Matthews added a second tally with 5:53 remaining. With 10 seconds left, senior defender Natalie Wall grabbed the ball off a corner and passed it to Bowers, who buried a shot to close the half. Fourth-seeded Hingham (18-3-1) turned up the pressure to start the third, but Reading (21-1) was on a roll, scoring twice more.
Division 4 State
Uxbridge 7, Sutton 0 —Ellie Bouchard scored her 100th goal, one of two she potted, and the top-seeded Spartans (21-1) are bound for their third straight state championship.
In Saturday’s title game at WPI, Uxbridge will face the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between No. 2 Manchester Essex and No. 3 Monomoy.