Bishop Brady rolls into D3 field hockey quarterfinals with win over Winnisquam (video)

CONCORD - The Bishop Brady High School field hockey team didn't have to take advantage of all of its opportunities Tuesday.

The Giants took advantage of enough of them to keep their season going.

No. 7 Bishop Brady had 15 penalty corners in the first half of Tuesday's Division III preliminary round game against No. 10 Winnisquam, and while the Giants scored on just two of them, it was more than enough to take down the Bears, as they scored a goal in each quarter for a 4-0 win.

The Giants move on to the quarterfinals, where they will face No. 2 Newfound at 3:30 p.m. Friday in Bristol.

In all, Bishop Brady (9-6) finished with 20 corners and scored three goals off them, getting one goal each from Marcella Tonge, Laura Yap, Izzy Cochrane and Margaret Sheehan. Goalie Ava Archambault made 11 saves, eight in the second half.

"We came out to play," Bishop Brady coach Kelly Owen said. "We’ve had too many games this year where we’ve let things sort of be there and not capitalize right off the bat, so that was important (Tuesday).

"I have all the confidence in the world in them. A kid needs to have confidence in themselves. Most of them are too humble to think they’re important, but they are all important. They sometimes just don’t realize that."

Winnisquam (4-8-3) had seven corners, but just one in the first half as the Bears were trying to defend their circle for what felt like most of the first half. Goalie Becc Kulengosky made 15 saves but Winnisquam struggled to generate scoring opportunities.

"We definitely had some opportunities we unfortunately didn’t take advantage of," Winnisquam coach Samantha Magoon said. "They did a great job with defending. Our offense, we can knock that ball up the field, but it’s about executing. They work well as a team, we just seemed to struggle with the execution."

The Giants took a 1-0 lead with 5:32 left in the first quarter, when Tonge fired in a shot from the middle of the circle on a corner that found its way into the back of the cage.

Bishop Brady came out to start the second quarter looking for another goal, getting three corners in the first two minutes. But it wasn't until late, with 4:52 left in the half, that Yap was able to get a shot past Kulengosky to make it 2-0.

That's where it stood for almost 20 minutes, as Winnisquam was able to put more pressure on Bishop Brady's defense, but just couldn't find the finishing touch to cut into the lead. While the Bears struggled with their execution, the Giants were filling in the back end to limit what space was available.

"We kept our composure," Owen said. "It wasn’t absolute panic. We just have to keep in mind that we defend as 11. It can’t just be let to the three backs and the goalie.

"That is sometimes hard. I can’t walk on the field and remind them because sometimes they forget. Some of those girls on Winnisquam had some nice hits and we play too close, I felt we’re giving the ball to them. We had to sag back a little bit."

The Giants made it 3-0 with 52 seconds remaining in the third, when Cochrane was able to get a rebound past Kulengosky, and Sheehan finished out the scoring with 3:59 left in the game.

Bishop Brady, which finished as the runner-up in D3 last season after winning back-to-back titles the two years before, moves on to face Newfound, a team it lost two twice during the regular season.

"Every year, you graduate a group," Owen said. "The kids I have left all know what it’s like to experience having teammates like that ahead of them. And now it’s their turn. It’s been a steady, consistent climb.

"We’re going to go to Newfound on Friday and it’s our third matchup. We’ve already played them twice and it’s hard to beat somebody three times."