LINCOLN – Revenge wasn’t what the Cumberland field hockey team was playing for on Wednesday, but it wasn’t far from their mind either.
Last season was last season, but last year’s overtime loss to Lincoln in the Division II title game was certainly on the Clippers’ minds in this early-season rematch – and this time they liked the ending a lot better.
Molly Enestvedt had Cumberland in control after the third quarter, but the Lions roared back in the fourth to force overtime. With Enestvedt temporarily sidelined for the extra session, Katherine Dwyer came up with the shot the Clippers needed, slicing though the Lincoln defense, drawing out the goalie and flipped the ball into the cage for a 3-2 overtime victory.
“We really wanted it coming into this and after every quarter, we knew how much we wanted it,” Dwyer said. “For the girls on the team, we all wanted it so bad – nothing was in the way of stopping us from the win.”
In last year’s Division II championship game, Cumberland gave up the game-tying goal in the fourth quarter before Lincoln went on to score the game-winner in overtime. The Clippers were prepared for a similar-type battle on Wednesday, so much so that they prepared for an overtime situation at practice on Tuesday.
While that meant a minor shift to its usual formation, what Cumberland didn’t account for was playing overtime without Enestvedt, who went down with a leg cramp late in the fourth quarter.
The Clippers adapted. They controlled possession early and once it was on their side of the field, didn’t let it go. Dwyer ended up with the ball on her stick and, with room to work because of the 7 on 7 scenario, used the space to her advantage.
“I just saw an open field, three girls, pulled around them as much as possible and took a shot I was really hoping went in,” said Dwyer, who dodged teammates ready to celebrate in from the Lincoln goal so she could meet goalie Michaela Daniels near midfield for the team’s usual post-game celly. “It’s definitely less [pressure], play as hard as we can and get that winner so we don’t have to get tired and fight for the win.”
The battle that took place the previous four quarters was enough fighting for a day.
With the sun scorching on the turf at Lincoln High School, the Lions came out to a roaring start. They didn’t have a goal, but they owned possession and didn’t let Cumberland get much of an offensive look.
After a scoreless first, Lincoln carried momentum into the second quarter and got a goal from Ava Cipriano 1:43 in. The goal seemed to wake Cumberland up from its slumber and with 4:06 left before halftime, Nora Collins found the equalizer to send the game to halftime tied at one.
“I don’t know if the energy was down a little bit, but once we hit that second quarter, we found our flow,” Enestvedt said. “… We got there and everything was connecting well.”
Things continued to connect out of the half and Enestvedt quietly started taking over the game. While the 5-foot-1 Enestvedt isn’t the biggest player on the field, her speed and stick skills allow her to do things with the ball few in Division II can. She has impressive vision as she moves and anticipates a defender’s move before the defender can think about what they’re doing.
Enestvedt was making her presence felt and in the waning minutes of the third quarter, basically went coast-to-coast to create an offensive opportunity she finished to put the Clippers ahead 2-1.
“It was hard because we were getting stuck a lot,” said Enestvedt, who praised the defensive work by Gaitainis in limiting Cumberland’s chances. “I saw that and I was like ‘I want that ball, I know if it comes to me I can get it up there, I can do that and if I pass to Kate [Dwyer] I can get that shot on.’”
“We rely on her a lot,” Dwyer said. “She’s an amazing player and an amazing teammate. We love how she plays.
“She’s such an amazing player and we use her a lot in these games.”
Cumberland hoped to use her skills in the overtime session, but the cramps prevented that. The difference ended up being the preparation the team put in on the practice field.
“We her more confidence because we knew what we were going to do and we knew how we were going to do it,” Enestvedt said. “Kate got that awesome shot at the end and got that goal.”
“We practiced overtimes and came into this game with a strategy in case this came to it, which it did,” Dwyer said. “I’m very thankful we did that.”
Lincoln was down, but not out after the loss.
Wednesday was the Lions’ first loss of the season, which opened with five straight wins, and while it wasn’t prepared to lose, they certainly knew the game was going to be a tough test. The goal was to win, but learning from the game – regardless of the result – was almost more important.
“This is a good humbling point for us,” Cipriano said. “We knew Cumberland was going to be our biggest competitor this season and it just shows we have to work harder.”
The Lincoln team that took the field Wednesday is much different than the one that won the last two D-II titles. In addition to player graduations, legendary coach Lea Miguel stepped aside, handing the reins to assistant Hailey Joyce. The young roster – with a handful seniors who played for Joyce when she led the JV program – has come together nicely and if they want to three-peat, there was bound to be adversity somewhere.
“It’s just a part of it,” Cipriano said. “We held them for the most part, went to overtime and they played a good game and we played a good game as well.
“Hopefully next time we play, it will be us.”
Quietly, Cumberland may be rooting for a playoff rematch.
The Clippers have dubbed the 2025 season as their “Revenge Tour.” While Enestvedt called last season’s championship loss “crushing,” she said the team was able to reflect on the year as a whole and realized it was a strong showing, especially coming off two tough years in Division I.
This year, Cumberland will again be chasing a championship. The Clippers – who lost their first game last week to Lincoln School – know it will be filled with ups and downs and being able to overcome adversity like they did on Wednesday is only going to help them in their title chase.
“It definitely gives us confidence going into the next game that we have coming up,” Dwyer said. “We want to keep this momentum going forward as we go on through the rest of the season.”
“You’re going to have a lot of lows, you’re going to have a lot of highs during a season,” Enestvedt said. “We started off high, that was kind of a low for us getting that loss and trying to bounce back from that.
“Coming here we were really determined, we wanted to get that win and we’re going back up.”
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