The Wildcats field hockey team beat Wareham 2-0 to boost their record to 5-1-3. The win gave the team 13 points and qualified the team for the state tournament.

“It’s a big deal to make the tournament and compete with teams that we don’t typically see,” said Head Coach Michelle Duarte.

The Wildcats has had troubling scoring all season. It was the same scenario on Friday afternoon against Wareham. With the score tied 0-0 at halftime, coach Duarte inserted sophomore center defender Maddy Avilla into the offense.

“I moved Maddy up to center forward. She is always asking to play forward, but she is so good as a center defender, that I fear to pull her off,” said coach Duarte.

“We were having trouble scoring, so I pulled her up to see if we could get a little more edge up there,” she said.

“And it worked. She scored the first goal. She’s done it for us more than once,” said coach Duarte.

“We have had a lot of 0-0 ties this year. It’s been a little frustrating,” said Maddy Avilla.

“What was running through my head was I need to score or get my teammates to score. Because we can’t get out of this game with out a win. I went out in the second half with that mentality,” Avilla said.

With 22 minutes left in the game, sophomore right midfielder Jessica Carvalho brought the ball up and passed it into the middle to Avilla. Avilla from 10 feet in front of the Wareham goal, slammed the ball past goalkeeper Jala Yates for the Wildcats first goal.

“I need to get it in, I need to get it in. That’s all I was thinking,” said Avilla.

“It was a really good set up. Jessica’s one of the strongest right mids that I’ve seen play. She has so many great skills,” said Avilla.

Coach Duarte praised Avilla.

“She’s fast, aggressive, strong, powerful and smart. She’s great for a center defender, but she’s also powerful up front,” she said.

The Wildcats weren’t finished. Sophomore right wing Julia Hurley knew time was ticking down.

“I wanted to secure the win, so I really pushed myself to score another goal for the team,” said Hurley.

At 8:32 left in the game the Wildcats received yet another corner. Like in soccer, Wareham touched the ball last before it went out at the goal line. The Wildcats had received many corners in a row in the second half and failed to score.

With 8:32 left in the game, Hurley took matters into her own hands as the ball entered the circle.

“There was a lot of girls in the circle. It’s always very crowded during a corner especially near the goal area,” Hurley said.

Hurley fought off a Wareham defender and collected the ball. She raised her stick back high and blasted a shot at Yates.

Yates booted the ball back out into the field and Hurley got another try at it. This time she blasted it by Yates into the Wareham goal.

“I got off a good shot. It hit off the goalie and came back to me and I hit in again and it went in,” Hurley said.

“She’s very physical and really plays hard,” coach Duarte said of Hurley, adding, “She never gives up on the ball.”

Three game week

Despite the win, coach Duarte thought that the team didn’t play up to their potential.

“Sometimes there’s just a weird mojo that goes around. Thankfully we still pulled the win out,” she said.

Coach Duarte thought that the three game week may have been a lot for them.

“They were very emotional and physical games for the team. I wonder if that impacted their heads into this game a little bit,” she said.

The team beat Case 2-1 on Monday and tied West Bridgewater 0-0 on Wednesday.

Coach Duarte praised her defense and sophomore goalkeeper Gabby Machairas.

“I feel like our defense had been strong all season,” she said.

“Gabby played with me for two years, She went to Dartmouth (her freshman year) and then came back here.”

“She was timid at the beginning of the season, but she stepped up. She reached for it and came out strong. She’s been very aggressive. It’s been good to see,” said coach Duarte.

No league for the Cats

Coach Duarte has been coaching Her young team for six years. The Cats are essentially a club team that is currently without a division this season. Athletic Director Jason Pacheco puts together a schedule for the team.

“We don’t have a league and we are just kind of going along,” said coach Duarte.

The team made it to the tournament last year and lost in the first round to Seekonk 1-0.

The team is looking for a better finish this year.