Local standouts lift Assumption field hockey back to Division 2 Final Four

Assumption freshman Chloe Kaeller was standing near coach Annie Lahey, and she was about a minute away from subbing in to the seven-on-seven overtime period in Sunday’s NCAA Division 2 field hockey tournament first-round game at Brian Kelly ’83 Stadium, when sophomore Mia Salah scored the winning goal to send the Greyhounds to their second straight Final Four.

“When I was seeing the play fold out,” Kaeller said, “I had a feeling Mia was going to score because she has that skill set. When I saw it go in, I couldn’t believe it.”

Lahey said Kaeller, the former Uxbridge High star, was the first to sprint off the sideline and onto the field to join her exhilarated teammates near the net as they celebrated their 2-1 win over St. Anselm.

“I think we played our best game to date,” Lahey said. “I was so proud of how we approached it, and I was so happy with our play.”

Senior Christina Leonard of Marlborough assisted on Salah’s goal.

“We were all just screaming,” Leonard said. “There was so much excitement.”

A year after leading the Spartans to the 2021 Division 4 state championship, Kaeller and the Greyhounds are two wins away from a national title.

Fourth-seeded Assumption (15-5) faces top-seeded East Stroudsburg (18-2) in a national semifinal at 5 p.m. Thursday on the campus of Seattle Pacific University in Renton, Washington.

Last season, while winning a program-record 20 games and capturing the Northeast-10 Conference championship and NCAA automatic bid for the first time, Assumption earned a first-round bye to the six-team NCAA tourney and advanced straight to the Final Four.

This year, Assumption had another outstanding regular season, but Pace upset the Greyhounds in the quarterfinals of the NE-10 tourney, so their NCAA fate was a bit less clear.

“I think you’re always worried about it because it’s such a small group that goes,” said Lahey, who guided Assumption to its first NCAA berth in 2019, “but we kept practicing, and I thought our body of work was solid. I was hoping one game wasn’t going to mess us up, and it didn’t.”

Under Lahey, who grew up in Worcester and is a Notre Dame Academy and Holy Cross graduate, the Greyhounds have posted eight straight winning seasons.

“It’s been really awesome to see the team develop,” said Leonard, who was a T&G Super Team selection at Marlborough High. “Freshman year (2019) it was really awesome making it to the first round (of the NCAAs), and I think that kind of drove us to keep wanting it every year.”

Leonard has scored a team-high 12 goals and earned NE-10 first-team honors.

Assumption has six Central Mass. products on its roster including Kaeller, who earned NE-10 rookie team accolades.

“It’s a different level of play for me now,” said Kaeller, a T&G Super Team selection who scored an Uxbridge career-record 70 goals, “and it’s really exciting getting to this point so soon in my first year of college field hockey. My older teammates have given me really good advice and taught me the ways of how this level of play works. We just have to put in the work to succeed.”

East Stroudsburg defeated Assumption, 6-0, in the second game of the season. Assumption, which graduated seven starters from last year’s team, was still a work in progress at that point.

“We’ve changed so much since the beginning of the year,” Lahey said. “It’s remarkable to see the development of the players. East Stroudsburg played a 50-yard game against us in the beginning of the year; we were barely able to make it down to their end. Now we have a lot of confidence, and I think they’ll see a very different team. They are a very strong team, and we’ll have to make sure that we’re patient and stick to playing our game.”

The Greyhounds set off on their 3,000-mile flight Tuesday morning.

There are 26 NCAA Division 2 field hockey teams, and the majority of them play in the East. Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri, is the western-most school among the 26.

West Chester and Shippensburg, which will face off in the other national semifinal and, like East Stroudsburg, are both located in Pennsylvania, also will be making cross-country treks.

Seattle Pacific is the host for the 2022 Division 2 Fall Championships Festival. In addition to field hockey, men’s and women’s cross-country, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball also will play their national championships there.

The festivals are held on a rotational basis for the fall, winter and spring seasons.

Assumption fell to West Chester, 3-0, in last year’s national semifinal.

“We have a lot of new players, and we want to tamp down the ‘star struck’ moment and get down to business,” Lahey said. “Getting through the craziness and traveling across the country and managing all of the noise will be a challenge, and we’re up for it. We have a game to play, and we want to win.”

Leominster keeper lifts Beacons

Leominster’s Maria Spylios missed the first four games of her senior soccer season at UMass-Boston due to a concussion, and the Beacons struggled without their gifted goalkeeper.

With Spylios back in net and returning to top form, UMass-Boston finished the year strong by winning seven of its last eight regular-season matches, qualifying for the Little East Conference Tournament and beating Keene State, 4-0, in the quarterfinals as Spylios made three saves and posted her fourth consecutive shutout.

She finished the season ranked second in the LEC in goals against average and saves, and second in shutouts (seven).

This fall was not the first time Spylios overcame injury and adversity. She missed her junior season at Leominster High because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The next year, she decided to train with her FC Stars of Massachusetts goalie coach instead of playing for the Blue Devils, and as a freshman at UMass-Boston, she led the LEC in wins, complete shutouts and goals against average.

Spylios, who earned All-LEC second-team and academic honors this year, ended her college career as one of the best goalkeepers in UMass-Boston history, and with program records for all-time wins and shutouts.

New head Engineer for diamond

Brendan Casey, who spent the last six seasons as an assistant at Tufts, is WPI’s new baseball coach.

Casey replaces Mike Callahan, the Worcester native who announced his retirement from WPI in September after guiding the Engineers for 17 seasons.

Casey previously spent two seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Azusa Pacific University in California.

Casey, who coached under his father, American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer John Casey, for five seasons at Tufts, is part of a college baseball coaching family. His brothers, Brian (Coast Guard Academy) and Kevin (Johnson & Wales), are also coaches.

During Casey’s time at Tufts, the Jumbos won NESCAC titles in 2016, 2017 and 2019, and advanced to the NCAA regional finals in 2016, 2019 and 2021.

“Brendan has enjoyed success as a player and as a coach,” WPI director of athletics Dana Harmon said, “including recently working at the highest level in NCAA Division 3 baseball with student-athletes equally committed to their academics as well as their athletics, striving for excellence in all that they do. The future looks bright for Brendan’s leadership of WPI baseball.”

Head of the Class

∎ Worcester State sophomore guard/forward Aaron Nkrumah of Worcester scored 22 points on 50% shooting, and added 9 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal in the Lancers’ win over Western New England.

∎ WPI sophomore guard Aidan Callahan made eight steals in the first half of No. 8 WPI’s win over Fitchburg State. Callahan had steals on seven straight Falcons possessions just before the midway point of the first half.

∎ Assumption junior guard Molly Stokes of Worcester made 50% of her 3-point attempts in the undefeated Greyhounds’ three games last week and scored a career-high 24 points against Dominican.

∎ Worcester State senior guard Erin Gallella had 12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals in a win over Keene State.

∎ Assumption graduate forward Christopher Stalmok of Paxton scored three goals to help the Greyhound men's hockey team to a 2-1 week. Against Fitchburg State, he scored the winner 49 seconds into overtime. Stalmok had three assists against Neumann.

∎ Holy Cross senior defenseman Nick Hale scored the overtime winner against the University of New Hampshire.

−Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTolandTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Local stars help Assumption field hockey in another trip to Final Four