Eagles' Early Goal Ousts Bay View Field Hockey

Score early, then hang on.

The Barrington High School girls’ field hockey team used that formula Sunday night at Cranston Stadium to record an exciting 1-0 victory over St. Mary Academy/Bay View of East Providence in the semifinal round of the RIIL’s Division I state championship playoffs.

Kelly Dolan converted a feed from Mary Coogan for a goal less than nine minutes into the contest and netminder Sophie Faxon along with a stubborn Eagle defense made it stand up the rest of the way as Barrington (15-1-2) defeated the Bengals (13-4-1) for the third time this season and earned a return trip to Cranston Stadium on Tuesday night at 6 to face defending champion East Greenwich High (13-3-3) for the Division I state title.

But it was anything but an easy path to the finals. After twice handling Bay View with relative ease in regular-season outings (4-0 and 4-1), the Eagles struggled mightily in their third showdown Sunday, requiring Dolan’s quick score, solid goalkeeping from Faxon (7 saves) and resourceful performances from their backline defenders to vanquish the Bengals.

“We didn’t try to play defense the rest of the way after we scored, but I think in the second half we just weren’t as sharp as we needed to be,” said Barrington Coach Lee-Ann Markowski. “Thankfully, the first half got us through. We got that goal at the beginning and the girls were able to get some energy off that.”

Bay View received stellar play from goalie Adrianna Cardilio (8 saves), while front-line performers Kayla Fleming, Mary-Elizabeth Clair, Alexandra Scala and Kiley Colucci put considerable pressure on the Eagle defense spearheaded by Gabriella Palko, Nicole Smith, Martha Dolan and Grace McQuade.

“I think we played very well tonight and it’s a tough loss,” said Bay View Coach Bonnie Higgins. “We had a great season.”

Bay View carried play during the first five minutes of the match, producing three successive penalty corners, but no goals. The Eagles rebounded to dominate the action during the next five minutes and broke through with 22:25 to play in the first half when Kelly Dolan tipped Coogan’s pass into the Bengal goal.

“I got a crossing pass and was just able to redirect it in,” Kelly Dolan said. “It’s just so exciting to win and go on to the finals.”

Both keepers were kept busy during the remainder of the contest. During the rest of the first half, Cardilio stopped shots by Palko, Elizabeth Dolan and Kelly Dolan and smothered a point-blank attempt by Palko, while Faxon kicked out tries by Scala and Clair.

In the second period, Faxon rejected three shots in the opening 10 minutes when the Bengals pinned the Eagles in their defensive zone, and a shot by Scala in front of the net with 20 minutes to play. Barrington regained the upper hand at that juncture and kept the pressure on Bay View for most of the remainder of the match, adeptly killing time during the closing two minutes to seal the win.

On Tuesday, Barrington (Division I-A regular-season champions) will face East Greenwich (Division I-B regular-season titleists) for the second time this fall. The squads battled to a 1-1 draw on Sept. 28 and the Avengers eliminated Moses Brown School of Providence, 3-1, earlier Sunday in the other semifinal-round clash.

“East Greenwich is a great team and they’re defending state champions,” Markowski said. “It will be a challenge.”