ANDOVER – Even after taking last year off from field hockey, Central Catholic senior Caitlin Milner knows exactly what to do when star senior captain Kerri Finneran has the ball at the top of the circle.

“Get your stick down,” she said.

By scoring a pair of goals off Finneran assists in the third quarter Monday night, Milner followed her own advice to perfection as the No. 10 Raiders (5-0-1) rallied past No. 5 Andover, 3-2, in a signature Merrimack Valley Conference win.

Her two goals paired with Finneran’s fourth-quarter goal and a strong defensive performance in the second half, leading Central Catholic to its first road win over the Golden Warriors (4-1) in program history.

Andover led 1-0 at the half and hadn’t allowed a goal on the year entering the matchup.

“This feels amazing,” said Central Catholic head coach Josselyn Wilson. “We had a really young group three years ago, so I told them that this is three years in the making. We’re just excited to see them put it together.”

“(It’s) insane,” Milner added. “This is always a huge mental hurdle in the season. So, the flow of our season, it just kind of has always set us backwards. So, to be able to come here and to push over it this early in the season, I really feel like it’s just going to propel us.”

Much of the first half looked exactly like what the Golden Warriors have used to control past matchups and reach each of the last three Div. 1 state finals.

Ella Sewall tallied a goal midway through the first quarter, and Central Catholic struggled to maintain possession in the offensive zone for about 20 of the first half’s 30 minutes. Midfielders Mia Giaimo, Lucy MacLean and Avery Pitts contained dangerous transitions, while Scarlet Glass, Shannon Paul and Molly Ulrich didn’t allow a single shot on goal entering the break.

But after Central Catholic seemed to gain a little mojo over the last five minutes of the second quarter, it didn’t take long for momentum to take a full swing in its favor.

Of the four cards issued in the game, two were given to Andover about a minute apart near the start of the third quarter. The Raiders were already generating activity on the offensive end, but the 10-on-8 advantage put them over the top. Finneran fired a shot off the pads on a corner, and Milner buried the rebound to tie things up less than six minutes into the frame.

Andover was at full strength shortly after, but Milner struck again with 2:40 left in the third on a bounding ball sent in by Finneran. Central Catholic found its way down the field frequently all quarter, while Andover was held without a shot or a corner.

“Having two (Andover) players down helps, but I do think that once we had that little pep talk at halftime, and we were able to just focus on moving the ball up, fixing some of the things … we ran for it,” Wilson said. “We were super pumped to have (Milner) back (this year). She just brings a higher level of intensity. And she’s just a gamer. She’s a gamer and she’s a finisher, and she’s so strong. I’ve missed hearing that backboard when she’s sending the ball in.”

Finneran took her turn just three minutes into the fourth quarter with a key insurance goal that proved to be the game-winner.

Bella DiFiore took less than two minutes to respond with a goal for Andover, which produced four corners and a game-best four shots on net in the frame. The Golden Warriors kept up the pressure from there, and even looked to tie things up with under a minute left.

The goal was called off, though, since the ball was shot from outside the circle and didn’t touch a field player’s stick before going in.

Central Catholic didn’t allow anything from there to hold on for an emotional win.
“This is always a big game,” Milner said. “The anticipation just being back at this field was really exciting. To win here was insane.”