By Paul Vozzella
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
An early burst of energy was not enough to carry the Raiders through a full four quarters on Senior Night as they fell 17-5 to Tri-Valley League rival Medfield. The loss snaps a three-game win streak for Dover-Sherborn, but at 12-5, the Raiders still sit in a good spot for playoff seeding.
An early spark from junior Oliver Atwood lit a fire for Dover-Sherborn as he scored on an assist from junior Henry Fowler 1:13 into action. After Medfield answered on the scoreboard, Fowler stayed hot as he found the back of the net himself. With the goal the Raiders seemed poised for a back-and-forth game.
That held true for the rest of the first quarter as captain Grant Sullivan scored with 16 seconds left in response to three Medfield goals to keep things close with a 4-3 deficit heading into the second quarter.
That was when Medfield started to extinguish the flames Dover-Sherborn put work into creating, leaving a shimmering light of a great start to the contest. Medfield went on to score four goals to the Raiders’ zero in the second frame and put the home team at a five goal disadvantage heading into halftime.
“I think the biggest thing was that we were giving up a ton of transition,” head coach Dan Morris said. “I think probably more than half their goals were just out of transition. You can't let a good team like Medfield get those looks; those odd man situations.”
The third quarter saw Dover-Sherborn conjure another goal from Fowler, the only score of the period. On defense, the Raiders tightened up, only allowing two goals and going into the final period with the game notched at 10-4.
Junior Robert Olsen rang out the rest of his team’s offensive production with a goal to start the last quarter, but Medfield would leave no traces of a flame that once burned bright with seven consecutive goals.
Despite an inconsistent performance, Dover-Sherborn remained competitive until the final nine minutes of action. The final score was not indicative of how close the battle was, opposite of its 17-4 loss to Medfield earlier in the season.
“I thought we did a lot better off the ground,” Morris said, comparing the second matchup to the first. “I thought defensively, we did a much better job matching their scheme.”
As it currently stands, Dover-Sherborn finds itself in the No. 11 seed for the Division III playoffs. The Raiders finish the season on the road against Wayland(2-13).
“Wayland’s a pretty gritty squad,” Morris said. “Last year, we had a pretty back-and-forth chippy game… Coming out with a road win would also help us if we're below a top-eight seed because after the first round, we would be on the road.”
Regardless of seeding, the Raiders have faced stiff competition all year and are battle tested heading into the gauntlet that is the postseason.
