Wins put field hockey squad into postseason
BY LINDAWILLIAMS
Facing a do or die situation at the beginning of last week, having to win at least two games with a minimum of a tie in the third of the remaining three games, in order to make it into postseason play, the team did exactly that.

HOLD STEADY The CPS field hockey team took time out from practice last week for this team photo.

Last Monday, Nantucket hosted Chatham and came away with the 4-0 win. "We totally controlled the game from beginning to end" praised Coach Lori Moran. "We knew that they had a decent goal keeper and I was concerned that we would not be able to score on them." It did take 21 minutes of the first 30-minute half for Nantucket to get on the board on a breakaway carry from 75 yards out through three defenders by Cassie Moran to break the ice. Karina Ramirez added an insurance goal four minutes later and Moran rammed one in just before the break to go up 3-0. After the half, Shellee Dyer tallied the final goal mid-way through the second half. With one win under their belt, Nantucket's hopes were kept alive.

Next up was a tough opponent on hostile turf in Scituate. In what Moran called "the best game I have ever seen the girls play", Nantucket again was on a mission. With only 12 minutes left to go in the game, Nantucket found itself down 2-0 and facing their hopes dimming. "They refused to quit" praised Moran. Erin Lindsay sent a "beautiful cross" to Dyer who then got Nantucket going with a "beautiful shot" past the keeper. With the clock ticking down to nine minutes, Dyer quickly scored again to knot it up 2-2.

Scituate, who had called a time out before Nantucket's second goal, called another time out with 2 _ minutes left. Forward, Grace Ann Tornovish, came off the field and reported that her hand had been hit, was numb and could not hold the stick. Moran asked her to just hang on for the last few minutes of play, thinking the team would take the tie. "I began to believe we were actually going to win this game and that was pretty amazing." Building on the momentum, with only 1 _ minutes left, Tornovish shook off the pain, took a pass from Moran and fired one in from about seven yards out to put Nantucket ahead for good 3-2, and brighten hope again.

Only one opponent remained, Bourne, a team with a 0-16-2 record and a team Nantucket had tied earlier in the season. It goes to show that there are no easy wins in sports. Nantucket needed a tie to ensure advancing and was fairly confident that they would get at least that. "However, we have always had problems playing much weaker teams down at their level." Moran also felt that there was a slight rebound effect from the pressure of two straight must win situations and was worried that the team had let their energy level drop. "They went in knowing that they needed a tie and a team should never take it easy, everyone had an off day." Thanks to Dyer, the much needed 1-1 tie was gained and an overall record of 7-6-4.

Nantucket will be heading off island, having been seeded 18th, on

Wednesday for a preliminary playoff round game. The squad will face Seekonk, who has a record of 9-4-5, and is ranked 15th. Moran thinks the team will be tough but beatable. "They have beaten the Vineyard 2-0 and will be formidable, but we can definitely win the game." She added that "I would have been happy not to play in the preliminary round but maybe this will work to our advantage as we will not have a layoff between games." If Nantucket wins, they will play on Friday again in the first round of the playoffs.

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