“Next up for the Chieftains was a quarterfinal match with #3 Shrewsbury. When these two teams met way back in early September in the regular season, Shrewsbury prevailed 2-1. The Colonials had home turf and took advantage by blanking Nashoba 2-0 to advance to the semi-finals. The field hockey team ends the season with a 12-6-2 record” (Stow Independent). This was the devastating reality of last year’s loss to Shrewsbury in the quarterfinal match.

“Out of all our games last year and the years prior, the games against Shrewsbury have always been the most intense and nerve-wracking. They were our first and last game last season, and both were tough losses,” states captain Emma Caviness.

Nashoba Field Hockey has made an incredible comeback since last season and finally, after fifteen years of unsuccessful attempts and making history, NFH crushed Shrewsbury 6-1 in their second game of this season. Shrewsbury has been a tough opponent ever since the current coach, Jamie Mariani had first started and for years the team has attempted different strategies and game plans to come out with a win, but none have prevailed, until now. So what did the team do differently? Was there something in the water this year?

Caviness explains that there was nothing in the water, the team simply had more motivation and determination than ever to make history. She says, “The team was exploding with positivity in the practices prior to last night’s game. We had an entire week between games leading up to the Shrewsbury match, so there was a constant building of intensity throughout our practices.”

Both junior varsity and varsity had gone through an intensive team bonding program prior to the game and Caviness attests to the fact that it played a major role in their success Monday night. “We were fortunate to take a practice day to strengthen our team dynamic with Pam Vaughan, who works to build trust and confidence in teams; this definitely contributed to our collective energy.”

It was obvious to everyone watching that night that NFH was on fire and working beautifully together. Captain Olivia Hurd describes the teams assets, “We are a very strong passing team, and we all work very well together on the field. We tried to make the whole team feel confident in our abilities, and I think that definitely showed in our intensity and relentlessness throughout the whole game.”

The game was kicked off with a goal from Caviness and followed by five more goals by players Tess Anderson and Hurd. Junior Sydney Lowe wrapped up the game and cinched the win with the sixth goal in the final quarter with only two minutes left on the scoreboard.

As Caviness proudly said, “we pumped up for the Shrewsbury game like we have for our other games this season: locker room huddle, the high paced warm up, and our hyped up cheer, the coolest thing though, was that the girls didn’t need any pumping up, we were already unified in our mindset, and raring to go.” Nashoba Field Hockey may have made history, but they have never been more humble and passionate about their sport.