Millbrook Wins New England Quarter-Finals

It wasn't pretty, but Millbrook prevailed 2-1 against a fiesty, physical Brewster Academy. The Mustangs did not start well. For the first fifteen minutes, Brewster dominated on offense; they were fired up, ready to play; the Mustangs were tentative, dealing with nerves and a slow, slippery, narrow bumpy field which was not conducive to good stickwork. It was going to be a slam-bang kind of game on the lousy field, and that doesn't play to our strength.

But once the team figured out what they had to do, they owned the game. Brewster scored first, about 15 minutes into the game off a scrum in front of goal. It wasn't until 23 minutes in that Millbrook earned its first penalty corner. If it weren't for the incredible fortitude of sweeper Small, aided by her two sidekicks Ehrenreich and Zimnoch, who also had great games, Millbrook would have been in a deeper hole. Small had her best game of the season and earned the game ball. But I get ahead of myself...

Score was 1-0 at the half.  We didn't actually start out all that well in the second half, but thanks to a great hit across the front of the goal from Fracchia and Zublin's superior left post talent, the Mustangs notched their first goal; assist to Fracchia. That was all it took to get the Mustangs fired up. They never looked back and dominated from then on.

Brewster never got off another shot until the last seconds of the game. We literally hammered Brewster's defense. The Brewster goalie, who was excellent, ended up on the ground more times than I can count, one time earning MIllbrook a penalty stroke. Kane took the stroke, which the goalie tipped wide. Not to be deterred, Kane scored on one of the prettiest penalty corner shots I've seen all season. Fresne's injection was perfect, and Kane fired a rocket that found the back of the net. Assist to Fresne. Any offense mounted by Brewster at this point was stymied by Small, Zimnoch and Fracchia, allowing our midfield to play further up and be more offensive. The game opened up, which suits our style as well.

Although the score was tight, we clearly dominated the second half. Congratulations to the team for persevering through a really tough game. We move on, our nerves behind us, ready to play Holderness on Saturday in the semi-finals.