BOYLSTON – With less than ten seconds to go, the winless Blackstone-Millville Regional High School field hockey team clung to a slim 2-1 lead against the then 3-1 Stags of Tahanto Regional.

Suddenly, Tahanto sophomore Mihika Chalasni streaked down the left sideline with the ball. She pushed it into the circle to the right of Chargers goalkeeper Sarah Hamilton. It was the same spot she had scored an unassisted goal about three minutes earlier in the fourth quarter. Her eyes were wide and square on the net.

The stress and anxiety were intense for Blackstone-Millville, who has not tasted victory in two years. Senior captain Haley Vadenais was one of the few Chargers players to have experienced a win. “Internally, I was panicked,” she said. “But as a captain on the field I had to control my emotions. To not let the rest of the team know I had that fear going on. I didn’t want to influence everybody else’s fear.”

Shouts of, “Keep it out! Keep it out!” could be heard from Hamilton, as the senior co-captain squared herself toward Chalasni, the shooter. At the same time, the excited Blackstone-Millville bench bubbled with nervous excitement as they loudly chanted, “SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!”

In the meantime, the Chargers defenders, led by Vadenais with support from sophomore Soren Wing, surged to the ball. They quickly dislodged it from Chalasni’s stick, clearing it out of danger beyond the circle.

“FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” The final horn sounded and a stunned Hamilton put her hands on top of her head in shocked amazement. Vadenais sprinted toward her goalkeeper with her stick raised high in the air shouting, “Let’s go! Let’s go, baby!” as the two longtime teammates embraced at the top of the circle. The entire team swarmed their captains with excitement. It was an emotional eruption from a team that thirsted for a win for two seasons. The players in purple and gold finally did it. They won!

“They haven’t scored in two seasons and they haven’t won a game since 2019,” said Chargers head coach Kylie Farrell. “I started coaching in 2019 and we won our first game at the beginning of that season. Then we played all of the rest of the season losing and we played all last season losing and we lost up to this point.

“This win is well deserved,” she said. “They all finally figured out how to win; how to score, twice! They come to practice every day ready to work; ready to grind … You know they’ve come a long way. They deserve it.”

They did indeed work hard for this win against a tough opponent. They battled to a scoreless tie by halftime, withstanding major pressure from a talented Tahanto squad for most of the second quarter. The Chargers, at one point, came close to scoring in the second quarter when Vadenais hit the post. Instead of getting frustrated at the near goal, Vadenais said the play gave her a sense of confidence. 

“At this point, we haven’t scored yet this season and so it was very exciting and nerve racking,” Vadenais said. “It was definitely a wakeup call because I realized we were definitely able to score. So, it gave me a little more drive and motivation to put the ball in the back of the net.”

Going into halftime tied also gave Blackstone-Millville another source of confidence, according to Vadenais. “We’re a team typically down after the first half, so to be even at halftime showed we were evenly matched,” she said. “That was a reward for us. So, we definitely took that as motivation. It was a realization that we were still in this game and we were ready to win.” 

During halftime, Farrell and her players decided to make some adjustments. In the first half, the Chargers had a more defensive minded approach on the field. This strategy allowed Tahanto to dominate the time-of-possession and it led to consistent scoring opportunities in the Blackstone-Millville defensive zone.

Chargers senior Emma Ryan said the team decided “to become more offensively dominant, do you know what I’m saying?”

“Yeah,” Vadenais interjected. “We switched more to an offensive mindset. Usually, we play kind of defensive … I think we attacked more in the second half. And we pushed up-field more.”

Hamilton described the approach as being “offensively aggressive.”

The second half began like the first half ended, with heavy Tahanto pressure. However, after a few minutes into the third quarter, Blackstone-Millville was able to implement their new aggressive style with pressure of their own. This new approach paid off as the Chargers’ pressure led to a penalty corner situation and their first goal.

As the ball was put back into play off a corner hit, eighth-grader Isabella “Izzie” Gaudette trapped the ball and then passed it to Ryan at the top of the circle who then drove it to Vadenais in the middle of the circle in front of the Tahanto goalkeeper. “Emma took the shot and I stopped her shot and redirected it into the net,” Vadenais said. The score caused the Chargers to scream with joy. They hugged and quickly sprinted back to the center of the field with excited smiles to celebrate finally putting the ball in the back of the net. The goal came at 11:56 in the third quarter. “It was a great feeling,” she said.

Blackstone-Millville did not wait another two years to score their next goal. The adrenaline from their first goal continued to surge through the purple team as the Chargers kept up their aggressive play. They controlled the ball for most of the third quarter and half of the fourth. Then with 5:02 left in the game, sophomore Victoria Miranda put another ball behind the Tahanto goalkeeper. The goal is a testament to the skill of Miranda. On the play, junior Corson Frost dribbled the ball down the left sideline with Gaudette. “Corson passed it to me,” she said as she crossed paths with Frost and “I passed it back.” Gaudette then sprinted in position at the top of the circle and received a flat pass back from Frost. 

“I took a shot,” she said.

As the shot went toward the goal, Miranda set up a screen by positioning herself with her back to the goalie. As a result, with the goalie unable to see the incoming shot, Miranda then spiked her stick down on the shot and redirected the ball between her legs and the goalkeeper’s pads for the score.

An empathetic goalkeeper, Hamilton chided in, “it’s called being on pads. It’s the most annoying thing ever for a goalie.”

Miranda replied, “I love doing it, though. I was like, ooh, the ball. I saw the ball bouncing and was like, yes tip it in.”

The game was not over, though. Chalasni scored to cut the Blackstone-Millville lead in half with 3:16 to go in the game. Although Vadenais admits a panicked feeling came over her, she said, “I was hiding that … I told everybody to just keep the ball up the field.”

Junior assistant captain Ella Leclaire said she noticed Vadenais’s stoic demeanor. “You were all calm,” Laclaire complimented her teammates. “I can tell you were all calm.”

Miranda said she followed Vadenais’s lead. “I saw her (Vadenais) at first and she panicked, but regained her composure and I was like, ok, I got nothing to worry about. So, I just got to focus … I can relax because she seems calm. I’m calm. We know what we’re doing.”

Coach Farrell also noticed Vadenais’s leadership skills. “Haley provided leadership. She kept their heads on top of their shoulders. She’s really smart with knowing the time and the score. She slowed down the game for her teammates. She kept talking with them. That’s just leadership, man … They realize that she’s a born leader. You can’t teach somebody to be a leader. They’re either born a leader or they’re not. And it’s very clear that she’s a leader. Especially, since all these kids are looking at her.”

Farrell also recognized her strong senior leadership. She said Hamilton is “a very good communicator” who “leads by example.” Ryan also contributed on the scoresheet by assisting on the first goal. “We have phenomenal leaders and role models in this senior class.”

Blackstone-Millville has a bright future with outstanding performances from their younger talent, particularly from Gaudette and seventh-grader Macy Sullivan. Gaudette may not have received an assist on the first goal, but she did contribute to the scoring play. However, she was officially credited with an assist on the second goal.

Farrell said Gaudette “has some of the best stick skills I have seen on this team. Her sense of the game has grown a lot since last year and she puts in all the work in the offseason … She understands how the game works. She’s an eighth-grader who brings knowledge. The best way to say it is she brings the best field hockey IQ to the field.” 

Although Sullivan did not show up on the scoresheet, the seventh-grader had a strong defensive presence on the field throughout the game. Farrell said Sullivan has strong stick skills and understands the game. Once she grows and gets stronger, she will be a big threat to opposing teams for years to come.

“She took control of the game,” Farrell said. “God, what didn’t she do? She was put out there as a seventh grader up against all these high school kids. She went out there and stayed in control. She got the ball in the circle. She was a very good distributor of the ball. You’re going to see a bright future for that kid and a very bright future for this team.”

Blackstone-Millville Field Hockey

At a Glance

Nickname: Chargers

Affiliation: Dual Valley Conference

Colors: Purple and Gold

Current Record: 1-5

Coach: Kylie Farrell (Third season)

Captains: Haley Vadenais, Sarah Hamilton, Ella Leclaire