Stoughton High Field Hockey Aims for Tournament Berth

The reached the postseason four years ago, but has endured the hardships of near misses into the state tournament over the past few years.

The goal will be to change that this year.

The Black Knights and coach Dan Mark enter the 2011 season with high expectations.

But, a yearly obstacle for the team is that the Hockomock League is one of the most competitive in the state.

Although it is split into two five-team divisions, the Kelley-Rex (large schools) and the Davenport (small schools), every team is still on the Black Knights’ schedule, including two contests against perennial champion and division foe Canton.

“It will be another very tough schedule for us, but we know about the other teams well enough and we feel we can compete with the top teams and qualify for the state tournament,” Mark said.

The 17-game schedule will see Stoughton play their Davenport Division rivals (Sharon, Canton, Foxboro and Oliver Ames) twice each. They will play teams from the Kelley-Rex Division (Franklin, Attleboro, North Attleboro, King Philip and Mansfield) once each, with the exception of North Attleboro, who they will play twice.

The Black Knights will face non-league foe Westwood twice, and play in a crossover game towards the end of the season against the team from the Kelley-Rex Division that finished in the same place in the standings as Stoughton does in the Davenport Division.

Stoughton lost some very important players from last year’s squad because of graduation. Molly Zuk, a midfielder, and defenseman Meghan Guerard were both Hockomock League All Stars, a year ago. Melanie McFadyen, a goaltender, has also graduated and will also be tough to replace in the lineup.

But, Stoughton will still have plenty of experience returning with a core of eight seniors who all saw playing time last season, as coach Mark rotated a lot of players in and out of the lineup during each game.

The four captains will lead the Black Knights in 2011—forwards Heather Baeta and Taylor Goodrich along with defenseman Jackie Kuhn and three-year starter and midfielder Mackenzie Hudson.

Christina Bacon, who split the goaltending chores with McFadyen a year ago will also return to the lineup. Kayla Floro and Amanda Crean, both forwards, will join midfielder Valerie Szeto to give Stoughton a solid returning group of players.

“We didn’t get much scoring last year, and we’re still a work in progress, but we have outstanding potential,” Mark said.

“We also need to get stronger defensively and need a lot of people to step it up and play to their full capabilities. The recent hurricane really hurt us by taking away some practice time and scrimmages, so we really need to work hard and be ready.”

Stoughton will start the season at home on Friday, September 9 against Foxboro.