Souhegan field hockey blanks Milford

AMHERST – Katie Almeida scored two first-half goals and the Souhegan High School field hockey team made it hold up in a 2-0 win Friday over Milford.

Lauren McCormick got an assist on the first goal and Kate Heaney stopped 11 shots as the Sabers (7-1) handed the Spartans their first loss of the season. Kaitlyn Nelson made nine saves in goal for Milford (5-1-2).

“They played their game,” Souhegan coach Kelli Warecki said of her team. “Everything we’ve been working on, they executed pretty well. They stayed composed and kept the flow going.”

It was Souhegan’s seventh straight win after opening the season with a 5-0 loss to Windham. Since that game, the Sabers have allowed just six goals total, including three shutouts.

“The girls made themselves a promise in that game that that would never, ever happen to them again,” Warecki said. “They’ve followed through on that promise. They’re a new team, having graduated 14 from last year, and opening with Windham is a tough open for anybody. For us, it was a mental thing as well. The day they made themselves that promise is when it clicked for them.”

For Milford, it was the first time this season going without a goal, and came after the Spartans had picked up a 5-1 win over Derryfield on Wednesday. Things don’t get any easier next week for Milford, with a game at Windham on Tuesday and a rematch at home with Souhegan on Friday.

But for the first time in a while, Milford coach Tracie Ibarra felt good before, during and after a game with the Sabers.

“I have no concerns with how they played,” she said. “We maybe needed to adjust a little quicker, but those are things that come. I think we were mentally prepared for this game, which might the first time I can honestly say that. We allowed them to score twice in the first half and we didn’t allow them to score in the second half. We were able to make adjustments and in making those, we were able to create more of an offensive push.”

One of those adjustments was moving junior Erin Tyrell back on defense.

“She’s one of my center midfielders,” Ibarra said. “Erin has a very good head on her shoulders. We needed to make that adjustment defensively to give us some strength offensively.”

The Spartans had their chances in the second half, but Souhegan’s defense was able to shut out a Milford offense that came in averaging more than three goals per game.

“It’s helpful that we play them twice a year, every year, so over the last couple of years, they’ve had some key players that I’ve been watching,” Warecki said. “I guess it’s good to know ahead of time what to watch for and show the girls how to shut that down. I think we were effective. Their two big scorers we shut down (Friday) and that was big for us.”

And the teams will have a chance to do it again next Friday in Milford.