MANCHESTER, NH – Boosted by a dozen seniors, the Memorial/Central High School girls field hockey team put an exclamation point on its inaugural co-op campaign with a 4-2 home win over Nashua North Wednesday night.
“We always know going into Nashua it’s going to be a battle,” said Memorial/Central head coach Meredith D’Onofrio. “We kind of understand each other. We’re both city schools, so we just came out ready to push and ready to win, so we had the excitement of senior night for those 12 girls.”
The effort was spurred by two goals from standout senior Grey McDonald – who is committed to attending and playing field hockey at Colby Sawyer College next season – as well as tallies from classmates Hannah Rodriguez and Makayla Desilets.
“Grey McDonald is one of our people who has controlled the field all season, and Makayla Deslites has been a push for us on our forward line,” said D’Onofrio.
From the shining performance upfront, all the way back to the defensive line, it was a standout night for the Kings Wednesday.
“They were moving the ball, they were hitting the ball very hard up the field, their defense was great, they were like a wall,” said Nashua North head coach Kat Previte, “yeah, they were good.”
Central senior Rosie Tague-Bleau, Trinity senior Armani Holmes and Memorial senior Izabella Bradley were key parts to the team’s defensive effort this season, said D’Onofrio, who also specifically noted the selfless performance of senior goalie Hollis Viele as a season-long highlight for the team.
Viele, who played defense the her freshman and sophomore season for Memorial, offered to takeover as goalie last season and has excelled in the role, said D’Onofrio.
“It’s not something someone usually does, to start their junior year of high school by stepping into a goalie position, but she has kept us in some of these games and it would not have been the same season without her,” said her coach.
Other seniors graduating after leaving their mark with the program include Madison McCaffrey, Kaylyn Wilson, Madelyn Diers, Arianna Alexander and Dakota Scribner.
“The seniors really had to come together to help us gel,” said D’Onofrio. “It was kind of on them to make sure that this co-op worked and it was successful and they did a really nice job leading.”
Although the scores didn’t always reflect that reality, Memorial’s 7th-year head coach said the positive team attitude and season-long effort was indicative of the work put in by her senior crew.
And the program is growing in size thanks to the attitudes and buzz generated by the team’s current players, especially its leaders, said D’Onofrio.
“This co-op was the best thing for our city, the best thing for our girls, and I think if we can trend on this with other sports, we’ll see some really positive results across the board.”
Which is why, she added, it meant so much to send the seniors out on a winning note.
“I think it was important for them and their peers at school, but also for the city to see there are still a lot of kids who care and a lot of positive things going on,” said D’Onofrio. “Finally, we’re starting to see some of these sports come back, post-Covid and feeling positive again. Kids are involved and that’s what matters.
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