Alyssa Farias scores twice in Bishop Stang field hockey win

NEW BEDFORD — The Bishop Stang field hockey team had plenty of reasons to hang its head heading into Thursday’s showdown with New Bedford.

The Spartans had plenty of reasons to hold their heads high after a 3-0 win that featured two goals from sophomore Alyssa Farias, a first-year starter.

“Today was probably the best game I’ve seen us play,” said Spartans coach Eleanor Taylor. “Today was a really good bounce-back day for us. It feels good. We got three balls in the back of the net against a strong New Bedford team. That’s something to be proud of.”

Stang was coming off a tough day on Wednesday. Not only did they tie West Bridgewater 3-3 in their Eastern Athletic Conference opener, but they lost Madison Halstead, who netted 25 goals a year ago, to a broken hand.

“What we were looking for is who would step up big,” Taylor said. “Obviously, Maddy is a big loss for us. She puts a lot of balls in the back of the net and creates a lot of opportunities. We saw our entire forward line step up today, and that’s what I’m looking for.”

At least for one day, Farias was able to fill Halstead’s shoes. She scored her first goal off an assist from junior Gabby Joaquim with 21:37 left in the first half. 11 minutes later, she was once again at the left post during a scrum and she tapped in her second tally of the night.

“We took over(Halstead’s) position pretty well in this game, I thought,” Farias said. “New Bedford is a strong team and we played well as a team. We all stepped up for Maddy pretty well.”

Farias hails from Wareham, but started playing field hockey in fourth grade while at Friends Academy. She played JV as a freshman — after a tough decision to forego golf in the fall (she plays “24/7 in the summer” at Allendale Country Club) — but dedicated herself over this past summer to earning a varsity spot.

“It was kind of a surprise for me,” she said. “Last year, my coach came up to me and said I had a really good chance of being on varsity (this year). Over the summer I worked really hard for that and I got my position on varsity and ended up starting and it’s worked out great.”

Joaquim scored the game’s final goal with 23 seconds left in the first half, and neither team could find the net in the second half, although the Spartans held a time-of-possession advantage.

“The first half we were very flat and the second half we came out and played better, but we couldn’t put the ball in the goal,” said New Bedford coach Kathy Rezendes. “They pass the ball well. They have good sticks stopping the ball. It as very difficult for us to move the ball up the field.”

Taylor was ecstatic about her team’s passing.

“We got away from that hit-and-hope kind of game which I hate seeing us play where we just smack it upfield and see what happens,” she said. “Something we’ve been working on a lot is being more aggressive in the circle and getting more tips. Today, of all of our games, our passing patterns were beautiful. That’s something to really be excited about.”

A big reason for the Spartans’ ability to string pinpoint passes through traffic was playing on the turf at McCoy Field, where bounces are much truer and space is plentiful, compared to the Spartans’ cramped home field.

“I think the turf definitely impacted us,” Farias said. “We played like a team today and it worked really well. (Our) grass is definitely longer and there’s patches where the ball bounces. On turf, it’s really fast-paced.”

“Turf helps, it really does,” Taylor said. “I’m not going to lie. We’re built for this type of field hockey. We spend a lot of time in practice working on our passing. We got stuck in the gym on Tuesday because of the rain so we played on the gym floor. It was really nice to see them take what we do in practice and put it in play.”

WHAT IT MEANS: The Spartans improve to 3-2-1 (0-0-1 EAC), while the Whalers fall to 1-3-2 (1-1 Big 3).

REZENDES: “We’re working hard. The girls, one thing I have to say, is they all work very hard. We work on the skills they need to work on and we’re seeing improvement in the game. We’re competitive. We just have to work on putting the ball in the goal.”

REIS TO THE RESCUE: New Bedford sophomore Raquel Reis has only been playing field hockey for about 14 months, but she was arguably the best player on the field on Thursday. “She’s so fast,” Rezendes noted. “She hustles. She can play both ends of the field. Her stick skills have really developed this year. With her athleticism and speed, now she has the stick skills as well. She’s playing really well.”

HAPPY TO BE BACK: Rezendes is back after not coaching the Whalers for the past four years due to a school rule that banned administrators from coaching. “I love it,” Rezendes said of returning to the sideline. “I just love being with the kids and seeing them work hard and make improvements. It looks bright, the future of field hockey in New Bedford.”UP NEXT: New Bedford plays at Old Rochester on Monday, while Bishop Stang takes on Dartmouth at 11 a.m. on Saturday.