By Meghan Foley
Last week, both of Medfield’s basketball and hockey teams entered thor postseasons.
The girls’ basketball team are not only the defending champions but also the first seed with an undefeated regular season record. They played their first game at home on Sunday, defeating 32nd-seeded Canton (6–14) 72–20. On Tuesday night they will have faced 16th-seeded Hingham (13–8). If they win, the girls’ team will then go on to play the winner of the Norwood-North Quincy game. Norwood is the 8th seed with a 17–3 record while North Quincy is right behind them at 9th with the same record. The winner between those four will move on to the semifinals.
Boys’ basketball (8th seed with a 17–3 record) played their first postseason game after the girls’ team, facing the 25th-seeded Dedham Marauders (13–7). Although Big Blue was at home, Dedham’s fans were loud and challenged the Medfield student section. Both had plenty to cheer about, with Owen Armstrong hitting two three-point shots and making a rebound that he passed to Thomas Behrmann for a layup in the first quarter, which ended at 17–14. Behrmann made two steals and Will Sullivan got a rebound that he sent to Armstrong for a reverse layup, but the second quarter ended in a tie, 27–27. In the third, Behrmann made another steal and denied a Dedham shot. Sullivan had a good shot that was rebounded by Alex Sokolowski. Sullivan then made an interception from an inbounding pass he was defending against. Behrmann made a three-pointer and brought the score to 36–31. Armstrong rebounded a Dedham foul shot and the Marauders had to call a timeout after Behrmann followed up one basket with another after stealing the ball from Dedham right after. Sokolowski had a good rebound that he quickly sent back to his teammate for a second shot, and fans were ecstatic after a long pass from Sokolowski gave Armstrong a basket that he earned a foul shot on, but spirits were quickly diminished when he was called for bumping into a Dedham player during his celebration, and the Marauders were awarded two foul shots following Armstrong’s one. Medfield ended the third quarter with a small lead at 48–40. In the fourth, Behrmann and Armstrong rebounded early on and Big Blue was steadily able to increase their lead and ended the game with a 66–48 win. On Tuesday, they will have faced 24th-seeded Pembroke (10–10), who defeated 9th-seeded Martha’s Vineyard Regional 65–50 on Saturday. If Big Blue beats Pembroke, they will advance to the quarterfinals to face either 1st-seeded Hanover (19–1) or 17th-seeded Lynnfield (16–4).
The girls’ hockey team (9th seed, 13–8) kicked off their postseason with a win at home over 24th-seeded Wayland (6–12–2) on February 25th. They moved on to face 8th-seeded Nauset Regional (12–8) on the road, going to double overtime before coming away with a 3–2 win. Advancing to the quarterfinals, the Warriors now have to face down the Westwood Wolverines (1st seed, 19–1) once again. Last year, Medfield went on an amazing postseason run as the 13th seed, bumping out the 1st-seeded Wolverines 2–0 in the semifinals before winning the whole championship. In the regular season, Westwood has defeated the Warriors in both of their matchups, 4–1 in January and 5–1 in February. Last year in the regular season, Medfield tied the Wolverines 5–5 the first time and lost 6–3 the second time before beating them 2–0 in the playoffs. Their matchup this year has not yet been scheduled at the time of writing this article.
The boys’ hockey team has also had a successful start to their postseason. The 3rd seed with a 16–4 record, they defeated their first opponent, 30th-seeded North Middlesex Regional (5–14–1), 8–3 at home on February 26th. On the 28th, they advanced again with a 5–2 win over 14th-seeded Wakefield Memorial (9–11). They will have played their quarterfinal game on Wednesday, facing 6th-seeded Dracut (17–1–2) at home. If they won that game, the Warriors will go on to play either 2nd-seeded Nauset Regional (15–2–3) or 7th-seeded Scituate (11–7–2) in the semifinals. Notably, the Warriors fell to Nauset in the finals last year 4–1. The two only played each other once during the regular season this year, Nauset winning 4–1.
A regularly-updated bracket that also functions as schedules for all playoff games can be found on the MIAA website under “Tournament Central.”
