Editor’s note: This story will appear in the Oct. 15 issue of the Northampton Press

“Finally!” exclaimed head coach Carrie Saul as the siren sounded at the end of the 2-1 Northampton field hockey victory over Easton on Saturday.

“It feels really good because it has been a long time since we have beaten Easton,” Saul said. “We talked at the end of last season how we wanted to come back and prove that we’re ready for them.”

Last season, the Rovers ended Northampton’s season in OT during the District XI quarterfinals.

The Kids were also coming off a 2-1 loss to Easton on Thursday in a game in which they outshot the Rovers 16-7 and had the advantage in corners 11-2.

Northampton opened the scoring on Saturday four minutes into the contest when Jordan Somers knocked home a pass from Bri Sell.

Easton answered with the equalizer six minutes later.

Eliza Rogerson scored the eventual game-winner at the 10:35 mark of the second period off an assist by freshman Ella Steirer.

In a second half that Saul described as, “the longest 30 minutes of my life,” Northampton withstood a relentless Easton attack. The Rovers racked up 12 corners over the final two periods on their way to outshooting the Kids 17-6 for the game. Northampton had a single shot on goal over the final 30 minutes.

At the center of the maelstrom was sophomore goalie Kadee Schrader. For those old enough to remember, her performance evoked images of Jim Craig at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic Games when the USA defeated the USSR in ice hockey.

Saul awarded Schrader the defensive player of the game.

“She had phenomenal saves,” Saul said. “We would not have had the score we had today without her.”

Schrader explained how much the win meant to the team.

“We’ve been talking about it since last year when we lost to them in districts,” she said. “We’ve been waiting for this moment to beat them.

“I was really excited. I almost started crying. I was happy I could make coach proud.”

On dealing with the pressure she said, “I just tried to keep myself relaxed and kept talking to the team to get them through it because I could see they were tired.”