Underdog Waves eliminated in first round of field hockey playoffs

After playing to a 10-4 record last year, the Riverhead field hockey team was brought up a division. Division II meant more competition and less expectations. As a result of losing most of their talent to graduation, the Blue Waves ended up being ranked ninth out of 12 teams in the preseason. A playoff berth was highly unlikely.

But that all changed over the course of the season. Even though head coach Cheryl Walsh-Edwards knew little of the teams they were going to face, she was determined to get her team back to the playoffs despite having only four seniors.

And she did just that.

The Blue Waves finished with a 8-6 record, notching the No. 12 seed in the playoffs.

Last year’s team lost their first playoff game against Centereach in a game where Coach Walsh-Edwards thought both sides were very evenly matched. Riverhead has never advanced past the first round of the playoffs in their history, according to the coach.

No. 5 West Islip (12-2 Division II) was clearly the favorite to win so when Emily Masse scored the first goal of the game off an assist from Danni Napoli, Riverhead was already thinking and hoping for the upset.

“We scored two minutes and seventeen seconds into the first half,” Walsh-Edwards said. “That was a huge surprise.”

But Riverhead couldn’t hold the lead. West Islip played very aggressively, they had nine of their 11 players in the offensive attacking zone, letting off 26 shots throughout the game.

Justine DeLuca of West Islip tied the game at 1 before the Lions scored two more goals, making the tally 3-1 at halftime.

The Blue Waves changed their stance to combat West Islip’s offensive prowess. They turned more defensive, having only two players playing forward as opposed to the four they usually had.

“They were very, very talented,” Walsh-Edwards said speaking of West Islip. “They were just relentless. They passed the ball really well and their speed made it difficult to defend.”

Paige Hubbard, the Blue Waves’ senior goalie, had 15 saves.

Riverhead went on to score two more goals in the second half by Amanda Dickerson and Katelyn Zaneski but it wasn’t enough to cool off the streaking West Islip Lions. The final score read 6-3 but the loss didn’t hurt as much as last year.

“We were the underdog,” Walsh-Edwards said. “I wasn’t even sure that we could score on them. Their goalie was top-notch. I think she was ranked second for goalies in terms of getting votes within the division.”

But to score three goals against one of the top teams in the county is — at the very least — promising. Bay Shore was the only school to even score as many as three goals against West Islip.

“I try to celebrate the little things,” Walsh-Edwards said. “Although we came home losing 6-3, I told the kids to keep their heads high. They didn’t give up in the second half and they kept fighting until the very end.”

“Seeing West Islip, it kind of gave me some insight into those top teams,” she continued. “I mean we played Newfield and they ended up right up there as well but other than Newfield, we were kinda playing the middle and lower portions of the division. So I got to see just how quick the speed is on the part of those upper teams and the finesse of their stick work. It’s evident that a lot of them play together out of the season and do travel and things like that and that makes a difference. And we’re pushing for that in Riverhead.”

The future looks brighter than ever; the hope is to finally break into the second round of the playoffs and with most players returning, it doesn’t seem all that impossible. Riverhead is already ranked 6th for next year.