Second-half charge leads Merrimack field hockey past Salem

MERRIMACK – The ball came off the stick of Callie Dwyer and went wide of the cage, and with it seemed to go all the momentum the Merrimack High School field hockey team had built up.

Instead, the No. 7 Tomahawks overcame the missed opportunity and surged ahead of No. 10 Salem by scoring three goals in a little more than two minutes midway through the second half to beat the Blue Devils 4-2 in the Division I preliminary round. The win sends Merrimack to Saturday’s quarterfinals, where it will face No. 2 Timberlane.

Dwyer, Rachel Schwartz, Jesse Londano and Olivia Kapsambelis each had a goal for Merrimack (9-5-1), which trailed 2-1 before the offensive outburst.

“I was really proud that they just kept pushing forward and they didn’t let up,” Merrimack coach Ann MacLean said. “Salem was very aggressive to the ball.”

Kiley Keenan scored both goals for Salem (6-8-1), which had played Merrimack to a scoreless tie during the regular season.

“I thought we played very well,” Salem coach John Gatsas said. “We played a good 40, 45 minutes strong and had a couple of lulls there. A couple of the corners there in the second half killed us. We weren’t aggressive going for the ball like we were in the first half and it got us in a hole.”

Salem controlled play for most of the first half and Keenan scored her first goal of the game just past the seven-minute mark of the first half. Merrimack was able to tie it up on the goal by Schwartz just before halftime.

“After they scored and we came back, it seemed the intensity picked up a little,” MacLean said. “We changed the formation a little bit (at halftime). They do a lot of long balls, so we tried to work on reacting to that.”

The adjustments didn’t work right away, as Keenan gave Salem a 2-1 lead with 1:38 gone in the second half. The Tomahawks responded right away, putting pressure on the Blue Devils defense with a couple of penalty corners.

With 17:22 left in the game, Salem was called for covering up the ball, giving Merrimack a penalty stroke. The Tomahawks picked Dwyer to take the shot, but she lifted it wide to the left of the cage.

“I think the stroke that they missed on got them together and they knew that time was running out on them,” Gatsas said. “They needed to do what they did.”

Merrimack got another corner moments after the missed stroke and Londano scored to tie the game with 16:38 to play. Salem took a timeout, but the Tomahawks kept the momentum, getting another goal off a corner, this time Kapsambelis, with 15:36 left.

A little more than a minute later, and 2:05 after the first goal, Dwyer slapped home a shot, giving Merrimack some insurance for the final 14:33.

“It just fired them up,” MacLean said of the missed stroke. “I think they just finally realized that this is it. I can’t say enough positive things about it. I’m pleased. It was great to keep that intensity level because that’s what we’re going to need in the next round.”