Playoff Picture: Division III Field Hockey (Sept. 27)

The Mascenic Regional High School field hockey team goes into the weekend as one of two undefeated teams left in Division III.

At 7-0, the Vikings will go to Kearsarge on Friday and are also set to play at Monadnock on Saturday, the first two games of an interesting second half of their season.

Of its first seven games, Mascenic played six of them at home in New Ipswich. The only road game was on Sept. 18 at Newport, a 2-0 win the Vikings followed up two days later with a 3-2 overtime victory at home against the Tigers.

Mascenic also has a second game against Stevens on the road coming up and will play Kearsarge a second time, with both games on the road. The game against Monadnock will also be a bit of a scheduling oddity, as it’s the third time the two teams will play.

The unique scheduling was required for a handful of teams in the division, when Conant and White Mountains were unable to field varsity teams this fall. It was especially so for Mascenic, which typically played Conant twice, as the rival schools are separated by a 20-minute drive down Rt. 124.

The Vikings only home game schedule for the second-half of their season is Oct. 11 against Sanborn.

Note: For field hockey, Division III will have 11 playoff teams. Standings based off results reported to NHIAA.org and other media outlets. These are not official standings or pairings.

Division III

Team (record, rating, last week)

1. Mascenic (7-0, 4.0000, 2nd)
2. Gilford (5-0, 4.0000, 1st)
3. Stevens (7-1, 3.5000, 3rd)
4. Berlin (6-1, 3.4286, 4th)
5. Newfound (5-2-1, 2.7500, 6th)
6. St. Thomas (4-2-1, 2.5714, 11th)
7. Newport (4-3, 2.2857, 7th)
8. Hopkinton (4-3, 2.2857, 8th)
9. Kearsarge (3-3, 2.0000, 5th)
10. Bishop Brady (2-4, 1.3333, 9th)
11. Mascoma Valley (2-4, 1.3333, 10th)

Outside: Winnisquam (2-5, 1.1429); Franklin (1-5, 0.8000); Sanborn (0-4, 0.0000); Littleton (0-7, 0.0000); Monadnock (0-7, 0.0000).

Tiebreakers

• Mascenic wins the tiebreaker with Gilford thanks to a better quality of wins against tournament teams.
• Newport wins the tiebreaker with Hopkinton thanks to a better rating against tournament teams.
• Bishop Brady wins the tiebreaker with Mascoma Valley thanks to a better rating against tournament teams.

First-Round byes (changes in bold)

1. Mascenic
2. Gilford
3. Stevens
4. Berlin
5. Newfound

First-Round Matchups

• No. 9 Kearsarge at No. 8 Hopkinton
• No. 11 Mascoma Valley at No. 6 St. Thomas
• No. 10 Bishop Brady at No. 7 Newport

Playoff Dates

• Preliminary Round: Thursday, Oct. 24, 3 p.m. at higher seed.
• Quarterfinals: Sunday, Oct. 27, 2 p.m. at higher seed.
• Semifinals: Thursday, Oct. 31, 5 and 7 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium, Exeter.
• Championship: Saturday, Nov. 2, 5 p.m. at Bedford High School