Eagles top Quakers in field hockey quarterfinals, 2-1

Field hockey advances to semis against East Greenwich on Wednesday

By Josh Bickford
Posted 11/17/20

Barrington High School field hockey coach Anne Gasbarro said her message to the team heading into Monday afternoon's playoff game against Moses Brown was simple: "Do we want this to be our last game …

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Eagles top Quakers in field hockey quarterfinals, 2-1

Field hockey advances to semis against East Greenwich on Wednesday

Posted

Barrington High School field hockey coach Anne Gasbarro said her message to the team heading into Monday afternoon's playoff game against Moses Brown was simple: "Do we want this to be our last game or not?"

The team's answer was clear: They want to keep playing.

The Eagles controlled the pace of the game in the first half, carrying a 1-0 lead into halftime against the Quakers. Moses Brown battled back to tie the game in the third quarter, but with about 10 minutes remaining in the game, Barrington regained the lead for good.

Barrington got a slight breakaway and senior Mila Diaz sent in a strong pass, which Violet Gagliano gathered up and pushed back to her teammate. Diaz then tipped the ball into the back of the Quakers' net, giving Barrington its 2-1 advantage.

Moses Brown then ratcheted up the pressure, but the Eagles defense, led by goalie Mackenzie Stephens, turned aside each scoring bid.

"They kept applying the pressure. Right to the end. It was a race to the end," said Coach Gasbarro. "Our goalie, Mackenzie Stephens, had six saves and our defense was very strong. It was just great teamwork."

Peyton Whittet scored Barrington's first goal. With a little more than three minutes remaining in the first quarter, Vivian Mueller found Whittet with a nice, strong pass. Whittet did the rest of the work and gave the Eagles the edge.

"It was a nice insert and a really strong hit in," Coach Gasbarro said.

With the victory, Barrington advances to play against top-seeded East Greenwich in the Division I semifinals; the game will be played on Wednesday, Nov. 18. It will be the second match-up between the two teams, but the third time they have squared off — the Avengers and Eagles played a league match as well as a scrimmage earlier this year.

East Greenwich has dominated play against most of its competition this year, winning by two goals or more. But that was not the case when they played the Eagles.

Coach Gasbarro said East Greenwich won after capitalizing on a penalty stroke late in the fiercely-contested game.

"I think we can beat them," Coach Gasbarro said. "I think we're up for this… We have a very talented squad."

Barrington's varsity team has 17 players — 15 field players and two goalies. There are seven senior members of the team: Ainsley Gasbarro, Ashleigh Wallen, Mila Diaz, Zoey Despines, Noelle Teixeira, Isabelle Guglielmo, and Mackenzie Stephens. And the captains are Zoey and Noelle.

"They're really dedicated to each other. They're a really, really special group," said Coach Gasbarro. "They don't want it to end."

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.