Sophomore Kiahna Farrey's two clutch goals lifted the Mascenic field hockey team to a thrilling overtime win over visiting Hopkinton Thursday. 

"That was a great field hockey game," said Mascenic head coach Selena Shaw after the 2-1 win. 

Hopkinton has been a "monkey on the back" for the Vikings in years past, knocking Mascenic out of the postseason in three consecutive tournaments from 2019 to 2021 and beating the Vikings 4-1 in last year's season opener.

"Most of their girls play year-round," Shaw said. "They have great stick skills. They're very fast with their stick skills...That's kind of their MO. They're very disciplined, they're very skilled, and if we are unfocused at all, they're going to make us pay. And that's how they were today."  

After a scoreless first half, Hopkinton slammed in the game's first goal with 2:05 remaining in the third on a hard shot from Autumn Meier that glanced off Mascenic keeper Evelyn Shippee's left-hand glove and sneaked in the right side of the goal, waist-high.

This would have been a great opportunity for the young Viking team to hang their heads a bit, but Mascenic never wavered. Instead, they battled back, quickly, moving the ball into the Hawks' side of the field and forcing a multitude of corners, the last of which came as the third-quarter buzzer sounded.

The officials called for a stoppage-time corner, usually a purely academic exercise, but this time, Farrey made it count, slapping a loose ball through a forest of sticks and feet to beat Hawk goalie Maddie Ceriello for the equalizer.

"We let up that first goal and nobody put their head down," Shaw said. "We charged, we got it right into our offensive circle within that first minute. That's what we talk about. If someone scores against us, we go back and we get it back. So that was a great response from us."

The two teams fought back and forth through a scoreless fourth quarter before Hopkinton appeared to score a clutch-time goal of their own with just three seconds left in the game. Hopkinton drew a corner, passed it in and scored straight away, but the Hawks weren't celebrating as they ran back to midfield; the officials had ruled that the ball never cleared the zone off the corner try and the goal didn't count. 

It only took about two minutes of overtime for the Vikings to finish off the Hawks, as senior defender Lorelai Shippee sent the ball downfield to freshman Hailey Saari, who crossed it over to Farrey. Farrey took a relatively long shot on net to perhaps create a rebound, but the ball stayed on the ground and skipped past Ceriello for a surprising game-winner. 

"That's not how I pictured us scoring," Shaw said. "We had many great shots. [Ceriello] had a lot of good saves today. And then that one, she just misplayed it. And unfortunately it was in overtime, so it was the end of the game. That's how the ball rolls sometimes."

The Vikings, who beat Stevens 2-1 last week, are now off to an undefeated start at 2-0 and look like a team on the rise after last year's surprising four-win, playoff-less season. They have a lot of good pieces, as senior captain Ella Keating is a speedy forward who's good with her stick and has both a calming effect and a rallying influence with her sure-handedness and intense closing speed.  Senior co-captain Lorelai Shippee is a staunch back wall defender with a 25-yard stroke who can change the game by changing the field with her long balls. 

Mascenic has nine incoming freshman on the roster. In other situations, that might mean a lot of inexperience, but this particular group has been playing together for years, coming together at Shaw's summer field hockey camps starting in grade school and continuing on with great success at Boynton Middle School.

Newcomers include keeper Evelyn Shippee and forwards Iris Traffie and Hailey Saari, both of who are the first in years to challenge Keating for fastest on the team.

"They just have a history of winning," Shaw said. "They've won a lot in their time at Boynton. They come here, they know what it takes to win, they're willing to put in the work. And now it's just figuring out our systems up here and figuring out what's going to work at this level."

Mascenic returns to action Tuesday at home against Mascoma Valley (1-1).