NEW CANAAN — It would’ve been very easy for the New Canaan field hockey team to look past its Class L first round opponent, Brien McMahon.
The Rams had handled the Senators by six goals in their first meeting and a date with defending state champion Staples was awaiting on the horizon.
Rather than look forward or back, New Canaan kept the focus on the present.
Nine days after losing a 3-2 heartbreaker to Darien in the FCIAC semifinals, the Rams got back in the win column with a 5-0 shutout of Brien McMahon to open the state playoffs Wednesday at a frigid Dunning Field.
“Come playoffs it’s anyone’s game and it’s a fresh start,” New Canaan coach Mary Clare Snediker said. “We weren’t thinking about the previous game’s score. We just knew we had to take care of business to move into the next round.”
New Canaan was a little slow out of the gate and led just 1-0 through 20 minutes, but sophomore Carolyn Baran scored with an assist from sophomore Molly Mitchell with 4:52 on the clock for some halftime breathing room.
The Rams then scored three times in the final 25 minutes to ice the game.
“We got off to a pretty slow start, but I think that was mainly because of our hard loss against Darien — we were still pretty upset about that and it was a close game,” New Canaan senior co-captain Estelle Asker said. “We had a timeout early in the game, we got ourselves together and came back out stronger. That’s when we started putting in more goals.”
No. 5 New Canaan (16-3-0-0) will now take on No. 4 Staples (19-1-1-0) in the Class L quarterfinals in Westport on either Friday or Saturday. The Wreckers advanced with a 4-1 win over New Milford on Wednesday.
No. 21 McMahon (6-9-2-1) had its season come to a close, although it didn’t go down easy and had a chance to gain some momentum in the first half.
“New Canaan is a fantastic team but I told my girls we had a chance to win today,” McMahon coach Kati Cavanagh said. “They went up 1-0, but we had a couple of corners and an opportunity to tie it, and to get that momentum would’ve been huge. But they’re just so good and so strong that when you give them an opportunity they take advantage.”
Baran scored both first-half goals for the Rams, first with an assist from senior Anna Lindeis at 5:42, and then with an assist from Mitchell at 20:08.
Molly Mitchell tips in a goal, assist from Anna Lindeis, early in the second half #ctfh @GameTimeCT pic.twitter.com/wxNZZj34QP
— Dave Stewart (@DStewartSports) November 14, 2019
In the second half, Mitchell tipped a shot by Lindeis past McMahon goalie Leah Pascarelli (10 saves) to make it 3-0 with 25:02 to play. Asker added a goal on a penalty stroke a few minutes later, and senior Izzy Nesbett capped the scoring late in the game.
“We have a lot of talent on this team, and a lot of scoring from the forwards and the midfield, too,” Asker said. “It’s great to see everybody working together and that’s part of why we’re so successful. We’re able to connect and play together and it’s never just one person leading the team in those goals. It’s a lot of different people.”
New Canaan’s Estelle Asker scores on a penalty stroke to make it 4-0. #ctfh @GameTimeCT pic.twitter.com/XnHGYlCMft
— Dave Stewart (@DStewartSports) November 14, 2019
The Senators put six shots on the cage, with the Rams’ goalie combo of junior Megan Lydon (4 saves) and sophomore Grace Gilman (2 saves) earning the shutout.
McMahon had advanced to play New Canaan with a 2-1 road victory at No. 12 Enfield in Monday’s qualifying round, with senior Hannah Felber scoring on a penalty stroke, and junior Julia Bale netting the other goal.
Playing a tough FCIAC schedule helped prepare the Senators for that kind of game.
“Where it does help us is when we go up to Enfield and we win that game,” Cavanagh said. “It was only 2-1, but I feel like we dominated that game, and that’s absolutely because the FCIAC teams are so strong.”
New Canaan will have a chance to avenge its worst loss of the season when it faces Staples, who beat the Rams 5-0 on Oct. 21.
“We know that we can play a lot better than we did in that game,” Snediker said. “We’re happy that we get a second chance against them and we’re excited to see them again. Anything can happen in the playoffs so we’re definitely not looking at that score and we know we can play with them.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Carolyn Baran, New Canaan. The Rams had four goal-scorers, but it was Baran who netted both first-half tallies to put New Canaan ahead 2-0 at the break.
QUOTABLE
“We have a lot of talent on this team. It’s great to see everybody working together and that’s part of why we’re so successful. We’re able to connect and play together and it’s never just one person leading the team in those goals. It’s a lot of different people.” — New Canaan senior Estelle Asker.
