BYFIELD — The memories are still there, etched into the history of the Triton field hockey program forever.
And, really, we’re not talking about ancient history here.
We’re just going back to 2022, when current seniors Peighton Hertigan, Riley McDonald, Ava Johnson, Delaney Quinn, Sophia Stanley and Adeline Stapleton were just entering high school as freshmen. That inaugural year with the team, the Vikings went 13-4-4 and made it to the Division 3 quarterfinals — and this came after a 2021 season where the program went 14-4-3 and advanced to the same round of the tournament.
Two straight quarterfinal berths. 27 wins. Two straight seasons of excellence.
… A far cry from the just 9 combined wins over the last two years.
Now, it would be pretty unfair to claim that this year’s version of the Triton field hockey team is going to bring back the “glory days” of 2021 and 2022. But, following a 3-0 victory over Pentucket on Wednesday that already served as the team’s fourth win of the young season and third straight shutout, it’s safe to say that a revitalized Vikings program is dreaming more along those lines in 2025.
“The team has really good chemistry,” said Johnson, who’s serving as a co-captain this fall alongside Quinn. “The passing combinations we have between all of us are really good, because we’ve been together for three years now. That connection is there between all of us.”
It’s just been a classic example of a core group growing together.
Besides welcoming in new coach Caitlin Rio to the sidelines this year, Triton (4-2-0) also brought back 13 key players from a year ago which included eight starters. A junior class of Riley Dinsmore, Bailee Lawrence, Marin Magee and Maggie Rennick are part of the “three-year crew” that Johnson talked about, and sophomores Reese Warren, Aaliyah Jackson and Jersey Giordano all played big minutes last fall.
Just steady improvement: Day by day, year after year.
And what’s funny is that last year, you could point to a similar late-season victory over Pentucket as a turning point.
The story has been told before, but a year ago, Triton looked all but done sitting at 3-10-0 late in the season. It appeared the Vikings were headed towards not making the playoffs for the second straight year following missing in 2023, but that’s not how their story ended. The Vikings won three of their last five regular season games, punctuated their playoff spot with a surprising win over Pentucket, then went on to earn a Division 3 preliminary round victory over Seekonk.
Experience that all proved invaluable for this year’s large returning crop.
“Making the playoffs last year was huge,” said Johnson. “Even the games we were down by a lot (during the season), it was all a learning experience for the mistakes we made. It just helped us to improve for this year.”
Now, the Vikings are looking to start by returning to the top of the CAL.
A goal that certainly looked achievable following Wednesday’s victory over Pentucket. Scoreless for most of the first half, Triton broke through with 18 seconds left until the break when some nice tic-tac-toe passing from Rennick to Hertigan to Quinn led to a goal. The Vikings would double their lead off a corner early in the third thanks to a Hertigan goal and Johnson assist, then Rennick slammed one home during a scrum in front of the cage midway through the fourth to make it 3-0.
All the while, Tristan Vo was excellent once again in the cage to post her third straight shutout for the Vikings. The junior is taking over this year for a two-time Daily News All-Star in Sophie Chapman, but so far has more than handled the pressure of the new role.
“We definitely want to make it back to the playoffs,” said Quinn. “We want to start by having a winning record, then hopefully we can make it to the playoffs and see what happens from there.”
Meanwhile for Pentucket (1-4-1), there were plenty of positives to take away.
Mainly from the first quarter, when forwards Tessa Crowe, Elle Pierce, Sophia Vasapolli, Alex Trotta and Cassidy Roche really carried play and kept the ball in Triton’s zone. Then with senior co-captain Morgan Gallant doing a bit of everything from her midfielder position, the Panthers were able to draw a trio of corners.
But they weren’t able to break the ice, and the Vikings eventually found their groove.