Winchester Secures Late Victories

On Tuesday afternoon and evening, the Belmont field hockey and soccer teams witnessed come back from the dead to snatch victories away from the Marauders in the final seconds of each match, including one with no time on the clock.

Sachems tie up Marauders with zeros on the clock

There is very little in common between field hockey and football, but for one rule: games can not end on a defensive penalty. Another play will be run off by the offense until the refs blow the whistle stopping play.

It was that rule, that led to a rare second penalty corner try with no time on the clock and allowed forward Katelyn Bailey to score past Belmont goalie Shannon Reynolds and allow Winchester (6-2-2, 9-3-2) to walk away from Harris Field with a hard-fought 2-2 tie against Belmont.

The tie spoiled Belmont's attempt to get back into the win column after a surprise loss to Arlington last week and a competitive game against Watertown spoiled its nine straight victories to open the season.

Despite the tie, Belmont continues to lead the Middlesex League's Large School division at 6-1-1 (9-2-1 overall) as Lexington lost to Reading yesterday.

Bailey started the scoring by shooting the ball up in corner of the goal after 17 minutes of the first with an assist from team scoring ace Emily Savage. Winchester kept the pressure on Belmont, not allowing them to turn and run with the ball and came away with a 1-0 lead at the half.

But Belmont finally returned to form as senior Caroline McCarthy tallied twice (Erin O'Donovan with the assist), the first a short shot after only three minutes into the second.

The second was a thing of beauty, starting as a break out from Belmont's shooting circle, the ball touched the sticks of four Marauders racing down the center of the field with McCarthy tucking it in with 11 minutes remaining.

And it appeared that Belmont, now controling the midfield play with Britta Marden, would give them double digit wins this season.

But the Sachem's Alyssa Anaronian began making long runs into the Belmont goal area in the final minutes, placing pressure on the defense. And that created three penalty corners, two taken with no time on the scoreboard clock.

And from a scrum out in front, Bailey took a shot from Tori Castro and slotted it in to the cheers of dozens of fans and players.

Sachems' Girls Soccer float their way to a tie in Belmont

It looked like Tuesday evening, the Belmont girls' soccer squad would be handing Winchester High's Girls only their second league defeat of the year and revenge a 1-0 loss earlier in the season.

A Mary Ellen Caruso goal that hammered the far post before hitting the back of the net, just two minutes into the game, missed scoring opportunities by the Sachems, the Maruaders' domination of the midfield for most of the second half and Belmont's Kara Fischer causing havoc to the Winchester defense, it seemed that Belmont would only need to run out the clock and walk off the field a 1-0 winner.

But a long pass by Lauren Valdario from 30 yards out landed at the edge of the box, passed two Maruaders and onto Emy Stratton's feet who sent a high floater that drifted over Belmont goalie Maria-Alice Manetas and into the net with three minutes remaining.

After leading the match for 73 minutes, Belmont ended settling for a 1-1 tie after 80 minutes.

The defending Division 2 North Sectional Champions are 6-1-1 in their last eight games, settling into third place (5-3-2, 8-3-2) in the Middlesex League's Large School division, behind Winchester (6-1-3, 10-2-3) and league leaders Lexington.