Classical ends Vets' playoff run

Kevin Pomeroy, Sports Editor
Posted 11/4/14

It was a resurgent, special season for the Warwick Vets field hockey team, but it finally came to an end on Thursday night.

Playing top-seeded Classical at East Greenwich High School in the …

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Classical ends Vets' playoff run

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It was a resurgent, special season for the Warwick Vets field hockey team, but it finally came to an end on Thursday night.

Playing top-seeded Classical at East Greenwich High School in the Division II semifinals, the No. 4 ’Canes couldn’t overcome two first-half goals in a 3-1 defeat.

Both of the Purple’s first two goals came in the final five minutes of the half, and the second one came with just 25 seconds to play before the break.

Vets battled back in the second half, and got a goal from Lexi Santos-Smith halfway through to narrow the deficit to one goal, but Classical put the game away with another goal with just over six minutes to play.

Despite the loss, the performance – especially after being down 2-0 – was one that longtime head coach Jim Areson was still plenty proud of.

“I knew we still had 30 minutes,” Areson said. “They really responded well. That’s a testament to them, their heart and desire.”

The loss brought to a close a season in which Vets went 10-4-2, was co-division champion and won a playoff game for the first time in a decade.

The ’Canes would have liked to continue on to the championship game, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“I’m proud of the seniors,” Areson said. “They have set a standard now for the next few years. Hopefully we carry this along and this becomes a regular thing. It will be all because of them.”

Classical got its first goal with 4:56 to play in the first half, as a ball bounced through a group of Vets defenders and ended up on the stick of Debbie Rosso next to the right post. She one-timed the ball past Vets goalie Naomi Franzen for the early lead.

“The first goal, unfortunately, we just made a mistake and they capitalized on it,” Areson said.

Vets nearly got to halftime down by just the one goal, but with 25 seconds left Kazandra Taysavang held the ball on the left side and backhanded a hard shot towards the right post that slipped through traffic and into the side of the goal.

Down 2-0, the ’Canes certainly could have packed it in. Instead, they came out with more intensity.

After Franzen turned aside a pair of Purple scoring chances, Vets went on the offensive. A Classical defender knocked the ball out of bounds in her own zone, and Arietta Chevian smashed a ball to the right post on the restart, where Santos-Smith was waiting. She cleanly brushed it past Classical goalie Shanice Cranston to make it a 2-1 game.

“I was glad we came out in the second half responded well,” Areson said. “We carried the play for a little bit. We scored a real nice goal.”

Suddenly still very much alive, Vets pressed the issue and nearly got the equalizer. It had consecutive penalty corners with 13 minutes to play, and then with 11 minutes to play Santos-Smith crossed the ball directly in front of the goal. It was a golden opportunity, but the ’Canes couldn’t get a stick on it to put it on goal. They did end up with another penalty corner right afterwards, but nothing came of it.

“My big thing with them is to always try to out-work, out-run, out-hustle,” Areson said. “I thought they did that.”

However, with Vets pushing up front looking for the tying goal, Classical got loose on a counter-attack with 6:32 to play and put the game away.

Tessa Griffin – who put constant pressure on the Vets defense all night – dribbled on a breakaway up the left side and Franzen came out of the goal to challenge her. Griffin, rather than shooting, slid a pass by Franzen to an oncoming Debbie Rosso, who trapped the ball and easily put it into the open goal.

“The third goal was the backbreaker,” Areson said. “It really was. We were kind of carrying play. I thought we had opportunities. Then we had to press the game, had to move up, we got stretched and that’s going to happen.”

The last six minutes ticked away from there with little action, as Classical celebrated a trip to the finals. The Purple will take on Cumberland in the championship game today at 6:45 p.m. at Roger Williams University.

And though the ’Canes won’t be playing for a title, they can reflect on one of the best seasons in program history.

“It was awesome,” Areson said. “If I had said at the beginning of the year we were going to end up 10-4-2, co-division champs, semifinals, I would have definitely taken that.”

The game marked the end of the line for Vets seniors Megan Lemay, Taylor Axtmann, Sam Harris, Emily Furtado, Lauren Vuz, Julie Ye, Britney Lane, Savannah Hersey, Franzen and Santos-Smith.

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