The Northampton field hockey season kicked off in a most auspicious way as the Konkrete Kids rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to knock off longtime nemesis Easton 3-2 in overtime.

“I’m going to ride this high for a while. This was a great effort,” beamed Northampton head coach Carrie Saul. “The kids didn’t give up even after having that extra time goal to end the half. Everyone stepped up, even when they were so tired, to put together a nice defensive effort as well.”

The win marked the Kids’ first victory over the Rovers since 2020 and only the second against Easton in Saul’s Northampton coaching tenure.

From the opening whistle, Northampton was the better team. They generated four shots on goal in the first 7 minutes and dominated possession. However, the Rovers took advantage of a defensive lapse to clean up a loose ball in the front of the Kids’ cage to draw first blood at 7:20 of the first period.

Easton drew a pair of corners as the first half wound down and scored their second goal on an untimed corner with zeros on the game clock.

The K-Kids kept working and it finally paid off when they converted the first corner of the second half. Maddie Williamson drove the ball on goal and Emma Schall cleaned up the rebound to get Northampton within 2-1 with 3:29 to go in the third period.

Williamson scored the equalizer with 9:15 left in regulation with a blast from the top of the circle on a feed from Hayden Lopata on yet another Kids’ corner.

Sophomore back Livia Churetta described the moment, “As soon as Maddie scored that second goal, I said that we have it in the bag. Most definitely. As soon as she gets that ball and shoots that rocket of hers, we had that.”

That confidence shone through once the 7-on-7 10-minute overtime period started. The Easton goalie made a great save on a Northampton breakaway at the 8:30 mark, but Churetta and Williamson teamed to score the game winner 28 seconds later.

Williamson, a junior and returning first team All-EPC selection, described the team’s resilience, “I think in the beginning, they just capitalized more than us. In the second half we really woke up and wanted it. I feel we definitely wanted it more than they did. We were willing to put in the effort even though we were down. And we had the grit.”