Charlie Breitrose
Watertown junior Maddie Leitner, No. 22, celebrates after scoring one of her two goals against Foxborough in the Eastern Mass final.
READING – Watertown’s field hockey exploded for four first half goal and cruised to a 5-1 victory over Foxborough in the Eastern Mass final and booked their eighth straight state final.
The South Section champions stayed with the Raiders for most of the first half of the game. Junior Maddie Leiter broke the deadlock with a goal from in close after getting a pass from senior Gabby Venezia with 13 minutes left in the half.
Less than three minutes later, Sydney Poulin makes it 2-0 Watertown. This time Leitner had the assist. Leitner then got her second goal when she tipped in a ball hit by senior Kourtney Kennedy with seven minutes left in the first half.
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown senior Kourtney Kennedy fires a shot against Foxoborough. She had a goal and two assists.
Kennedy then got her own goal off a pass from sophomore Catherine Connors just 56 seconds before halftime. UConn-bound Kennedy said the offense does not always emphasize getting her the ball.
“If we are in the circle we are just trying to shoot the ball on net and get the rebounds right away and just working with everyone on the field,” Kennedy said.
Poulin collected her second score with 21 minutes left in the second half. She blasted a ball from up high. Kennedy got the assist.
Foxborough got on the board with 10:22 left when sophomore Lily Daly scored.
Charlie Breitrose
Watertown’s Sydney Poulin reaches for a ball in the state semifinal against Foxborough. The junior scored twice.
Junior goalie Jonna Kennedy said she got tested a bit, but was confident in her teammates.
“I got a few shots, but I had a strong defense in front of me and we were ready for whatever came,” Jonna said.
Charlie Breitrose
The Raiders celebrated beating Foxborough and heading to the team’s eighth straight state final.
The win was the Raiders’ 122 straight, and the 182nd straight unbeaten – both national records. Watertown Coach Eileen Donahue said Watertown beat a good team, but she still sees areas where her team can improve.
“What can we do? Lots,” Donahue said. “We need to do a lot of things better –finish things off better, read the game better. There are a lot of things we can do better.”
Saturday Watertown will play Oakmont in the State Final in Worcester. The game will be at WPI, but the time has not been announced.