Nania's Pair of Goals Leads Milford

The Milford Hawks Field Hockey team scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the first half and went on to defeat the Hudson Hawks, 3-0, under the lights at Fino Field on Tuesday night. Senior forward Alyssa Nania led the offensive charge for Milford with a pair of goals, while senior co-captain and goalkeeper, Valerie Ferrante, made 14 saves, preserving the shutout and Milford's second win of the season.

"They played like they should have been playing the whole season," said Coach Jen Fournier. "They were aggressive, they stopped the ball well, they moved the ball and they worked as a team. That showed in the end."

The effort by the Hawks was apparent from the start, as they scored just over three minutes into the game. Senior co-captain Heather Campbell fed junior forward Courtney Hebert for the first tally of the game and gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

A few minutes later, after a goal for Milford was waved off, co-captain Alex Jacobson delivered an assist to Nania for the Hawks' second goal at the 21:18 mark. The Hawks were up 2-0 and continued to pressure Hudson by playing a physical and fast-paced game. Milford ate up the time of possession in the first half and didn't allow Hudson to get any kind of offense going.

"I think my girls played pretty hard, but Milford won the game in the first 10 minutes when they got those first two goals," said Hudson head coach Jen Wallingford. "We did a much better job moving the ball in the last 20 minutes of the first half and the entire second half, but it wasn't enough. I don't mind losing a hard-fought game, but it's easier if we have scored."

The game may have had a different result if Hudson had played for the entire game like they did in the final minutes of the second half, as they generated a few shots on goal, including a few opportunities right in front of the net. But the Milford defense led by goalie Ferrante and senior defenders Katie Blackburn and Samantha Breen proved to be too much for Hudson's front line in the end.

Milford would add one more goal with 6:14 left in the second half, thanks to a Nania shot off a centering pass from Campbell, who had a great night with two assists. Milford improved to 2-13-1 on the season, while Hudson dropped their record to 3-9-1.  

Milford's second win of the season, and second win this year against Hudson, couldn't have come at a better time, as the Hawks celebrated their senior night and all the hard work of all 10 of Fournier's seniors.

"They started all together as freshmen and have basically moved up the ranks and turned into a strong core of girls, a group of leaders," said Fournier. "This game is like a culmination of all their hard work since freshmen year and it finally shows in the score … and in the win."

This was the first time Milford put up more than two goals all season, which Fournier believes is because her squad is forced to be "defensive-minded," due to the toughness and level of the teams they play against in the Mid Wach A Conference.

"The teams that we play against we try to focus on defense and shutting them out, so we don't get a lot of practice scoring because we are getting hammered on defense," said Fournier. "So when we do play other teams that we can actually have offensive opportunities against, it's new to us, but we've been doing a lot of practice on that and we were finally able to implement that in a game and it showed tonight. We made it work."

Milford has two games left this season, a home game against Marlborough on Friday at 3:45 p.m. and an away game against Mid Wach A rival Leominster Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 4 p.m. to finish out the season.