The Northampton field hockey team got two fourth quarter goals from Lauren Reznick and a shutout from their backup goalkeeper to turn away Liberty and clinch a district playoff berth 2-0 last Thursday at Joan Kremus Field.

Octavia Reichelderfer, the starter in the cage for the past two seasons, suffered an injury before practice on Wednesday, so head coach Carrie Saul turned to sophomore Kailyn Gevauden-Mollenkof in the crucial EPC contest.

Saul spoke about her keeper, “It’s not like she hasn’t been in a varsity game, but she’s been in varsity games where they didn’t really get any shots. Today she faced a lot of decent shots and she rose to the occasion. We’re proud of her.”

“I actually didn’t find out I was going to start until right before the game. It was scary I’m not gonna lie. I’ve never started a varsity game where it’s been a decent team before, so my nerves were going,” explained the sophomore.

“The physical part of it definitely got easier knowing that my team was there for me and they were able to get the ball out of the circle quick enough. Going into the second half 0-0 was scary and it took a lot to get over it, but I did,” she continued.

After a back-and-forth three quarters, the K-Kids finally broke through at the 12:30 of the final period when Reznick was able to work the ball out of a scrum in front of the Liberty goal and into the cage. She described the goal, “So, it should have been a stroke because the girl was standing in front of the endline and when I pushed it into her, she prevented it from going into the cage. I just kept pushing and eventually it went in.”

Reznick tallied the insurance goal with 4:32 left in the game on corner. Julia Behnke was credited with the assist on the first goal and Maddie Williamson assisted on the second.

The Kids’ record stands at 9-5 for the season and 7-4 in the EPC. With spots locked up in both the league and district tournaments, the only concern for Northampton is seeding. Stroudsburg and Whitehall are also in the mix for the 5, 6, and 7 spots in both brackets.

The team hosts Freedom on Friday, travels to Bangor on Saturday, and is at Whitehall on Tuesday in the regular season finale for both schools. The EPC playoffs start next Saturday.