Stoughton High Field Hockey Edged by North Attleboro

North Attleboro and Stoughton were two Hockomock League field hockey teams searching for their first win of the season, Wednesday afternoon in a matchup at Stoughton.

Unfortunately, for the Black Knights, it was North Attleboro that came away with the victory.

The two teams played to a 1-1 tie, a week earlier, at North Attleboro. Heading into Wednesday’s rematch, that tie was the only non-loss for both teams, in a contest that Stoughton scored the tying goal with only four minutes remaining.

This time around, Stoughton trailed once again, 1-0, and pressured the North Attleboro goaltender late in the game, but couldn’t get the equalizer and lost to the Red Rocketeers.

Stoughton falls to 0-4-1 overall and has only scored two goals in the first five games. North Attleboro improves to 1-4-1 with four goals scored. The young Black Knights continue the long process of improving every game and are inching closer to that elusive first win.

“We’re playing better and most importantly we’re upbeat, confident and a very close-knit team,” Stoughton coach Dan Mark said.

“We just need to attack the opponent when they have possession and be aggressive instead of waiting for them to get into position. We need to act and not react and that will not only help defensively, but set up more offensive opportunities. This is a very tough league and every game is a real challenge for us.”

Stoughton came out and held the territorial advantage and had a 4-1 shots on net advantage throughout the first half. North Attleboro regrouped during a timeout, midway through the opening thirty minutes, and began to go on the attack, but the game remained scoreless going into halftime.

“We seemed to be playing like we did in the first game against them and we needed to pick up the intensity, and fortunately after the first fifteen minutes of the game we did, and we were lucky that we weren’t behind,” North Attleboro coach Karen Folan said.

Both goaltenders, senior co-captain Erin Mullaney for North Attleboro and senior Christina Bacon for Stoughton, each had six saves.

The only shot that found its way into the net was scored by North Attleboro senior co-captain Lauren Johnson. Johnson got a pass from junior teammate Jackie DeBonis, who rushed the ball up the field, and hit it on the fly past Bacon with 20 minutes left. Johnson was a force on offense throughout the game.

North Attleboro continued the offensive pressure for the next nine minutes, until Stoughton began an offensive threat of its own. With eleven minutes left, the Black Knights’ offense, paced by senior Kayla Floro and senior captain Mackenzie Hudson, put two shots on net, but Mullaney came up with the saves.

Stoughton didn’t get another shot off and North Attleboro preserved its first victory of the season.

North Attleboro will be back in action on Friday, at home against Franklin, while Stoughton will next play Sharon, in an important Davenport Division matchup, at home, on Friday at 3:45 p.m.