Seniors Lead Medfield Field Hockey to 2-0 Win Over Bellingham Friday

The Medfield field hockey team is off to a strong start this season, improving to 3-0 after Friday’s 2-0 victory over Bellingham at the turf.

More importantly for the Warriors, all three victories have come against Tri-Valley League opponents.

“Feels great to start the season off strong,” said senior forward Emily Zlevor, who set up both goals Friday. “I think we’re going to do pretty well, hopefully. Our team works really well together.”

Medfield head coach Mike Mason agrees.

“I’m happy with the girls,” Mason said. “I can’t complain, we’re 3-0 in the league.”

Mason pointed to the leadership of his three captains – Lauren Yancich, Meghan Tschirch and Kara Pelosi – as the key to the Warriors’ early season success.

“The captains are stepping it up,” Mason said. “We’ve got Lauren Yancich playing defense, center d, she’s really a leader. We got Kara [Pelosi] right in front of her in the middle so we’re really strong in the middle. Meghan Tschirch is right next to her. What continues to be a positive is our captains and our leaders. They never come out of the game so they’re solid.”

On Friday, it was the timely presence of senior forward Sammy Sturchio that gave Medfield a two-goal lead heading into halftime.

“It was a good feeling … it was nice to score early,” Sturchio said. “It was exciting.”

Sturchio capitalized on a rebound that found her stick following Zlevor’s shot on the cage. Sturchio converted the opportunity to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead with 16:44 remaining in the first half.

Less than 10 minutes later, it was Sturchio again scoring as result of traffic in the net, set up by Zlevor.

“It was a lot about our mids and defense bringing it up,” Sturchio said of her second goal. “Being at the right place at the right time, standing at the post. Emily [Zlevor] crosses it and I sweep it in.”

Sturchio’s second goal came at the 6:30 mark and similar to their other two victories, the Warriors maintained the first-half advantage.

“What we’ve been doing lately is scoring early and holding on,” Mason said. “I would like to see us score early and often. … The other night we played Holliston, we went up 3-0 at half and won 3-0. [Friday] we went up 2-0 and won 2-0, I mean it’s great. I’m not complaining.”

Medfield (3-0, 3-0) had several opportunities in the second half, primarily on corners to increase its lead but Bellingham’s defense rose to the occasion on what was a quiet 60 minutes offensively.

“We had several penalty corners, which is good, their goalie stepped up and played really well and Carrie [Cook] gave us a couple great saves when she had to and they had opportunities on corners in the second half,” Mason said.

Cook recorded her second straight shutout Friday, stopping seven shots. The junior goalkeeper has allowed just one goal over three games.

“Carrie played great,” Sturchio said. “Two shut outs in a row for her.”

Mason said while the team is off to a 3-0 start, it’s still early in the season and he’d still like to see his team step up when fatigue sets in.

“When we get tired and the kids stop talking,” Mason said of what he’d like to improve on. “It gets too quiet. The thing is, when people get tired we need some leaders to step it up and tell everybody to take a deep breath and finish the game strong.”

Medfield returns to the field for a non-league game against Bishop Fenwick Monday at 5:15 p.m. on the turf.

“Bishop Fenwick, which is kind of a North Shore powerhouse,” Mason said.

Warriors Blank Holliston Tuesday

Senior Julia Redden, Meghan Keleher and Kail a Bernhardt scored first-half goals for Medfield in a 3-0 shutout victory over Holliston Tuesday. Tori Brown and Sammy Sturchio recorded assists and Carrie Cook recorded 12 saves for the shutout in net.

“The score was deceiving as Holliston kept applying the pressure but the Medfield defense, led by senior Lauren Yancich and senior Meghan Tschirch held the Panthers scoreless,” said Warriors head coach Mike Mason.