NEWBURYPORT — Now that enough time has passed, Newburyport field hockey coach Shannon Haley and her team like to joke about it.
But last year, their Senior Night felt more like an entire graduation ceremony.
“Truthfully,” started Haley. “we all joked at the beginning of this season that we sat here during last year’s Senior Night, and three-fourths of our team was called up.”
And that math isn’t too far off.
Of the 20 athletes that made up last year’s Newburyport varsity roster, 12 of them were graduating seniors. It honestly worked out quite well, though, as the Clippers were making the jump up to Division 2 at the time, and needed all of the veteran experience they could get. But heading into the 2026 season with 60% of last year’s team now taking college courses, there was legitimate concern on how this new group of Clippers was going to respond.
Well, apparently there was no need to worry!
Following another dominant 5-0 win over rival Pentucket on Wednesday, this “new-look” Newburyport team is just as dangerous as ever. The Clippers (9-2-0) welcomed in 10 newcomers to the team this year to go along with eight returners, and so far, the results haven’t dipped a bit. Besides being ranked at No. 11 in the latest Division 2 power poll, the Clippers are also on the cusp of claiming yet another CAL Kinney title.
“I give credit to the entire team, because we’ve had a lot of people step up in different ways and playing with a lot of confidence,” said Haley. “We’re really proud of the team with how they’ve come together this year.”
And it starts at the top.
The only two returning seniors from last year’s team for the Clippers are Blaire Fox and Lottie O’Brien, who serve as co-captains. But their combined leadership has been invaluable all season, especially this week after the Clippers lost big to Dover-Sherborn last Friday. At the time of that game, the Raiders were undefeated (still are) and the No. 1-ranked team in Division 3, and had the highest MIAA power rating of any school in the entire state regardless of division.
But ever since: Newburyport has won its two games by a total score of 12-1.
“(Dover-Sherborn) moved the ball incredibly well, and we definitely played a little reactionary,” said Haley. “So we talked a lot about effort, second-effort, and stepping to the ball. (Dover-Sherborn) was a really good team, but we learned a lot about ourselves.”
And that mentality showed up early on Wednesday.
Just a couple of minutes into the game, returning Daily News All-Star Ari DeRosa buried a great feed off a corner. The junior does a bit of everything for the team, and helps to control play from her midfield position alongside O’Brien, Kendall Martyn, Meri Boelke and Myra Taffel. Then it was also ultimately the fifth shutout of the year for new junior goalie Ella Arcand, who has played great this fall thanks to the defensive help of Brooke McCarron, Hannah Weetman and Reese Beauparlant in front of her.
But it would stay a 1-0 game until late in the second quarter, when Fox made a great run down the right sideline before firing home a goal. Morgan Rouba had the assist, and soon after it was Sadie Aiello finding the back of the cage to make it a 3-0 game at halftime.
The final score, though, looks a tad deceiving for Pentucket (3-7-2).
Because after the lightning-quick opening goal, the Panthers did settle down.
New freshman goalie Rajaa Chabib wound up with eight saves on the game, and a defense led by Haylie Gagnon and Abby Daniels stood tall for a while after the opening goal. The Panthers then drew a couple of corners, and had their fair share of scoring chances thanks to forwards Alex Trotta, Sophia Vasapolli, Erin Hicks and Emma Potter. There was also plenty of crisp passing on display through the midfield between Maze Goff, Tessa Crowe, Agatha Quinlan, Katherine Santimore and Quinn Hildebrand.
“Definitely proud,” said Pentucket coach Rachel Thornton. “I think we had good passing patterns, I think we were stepping up to the ball, and I think that we had opportunities to score. We just couldn’t shut them down on defense for the whole game.”
But do you want to know the best part for the Panthers?
With only four seniors on the roster, this program has plenty of runway to grow into a power over the next couple of years. Goff and Santimore are only sophomores, and Hildebrand, Hicks, Potter and Chabib are all freshmen who play huge minutes each game.
“That’s very exciting,” said Thornton. “It’s been a whole team effort. But I think for (the younger kids) to step up and put their effort out there, and for the upperclassmen on the team to see that and take them under their wings, it’s just been a fun experience for the team.”
But you’re not going to contain a team like Newburyport for a whole game.
Taffel would poke in a corner rebound midway through the third quarter, and Aiello would find her second of the game in the fourth to make it 5-0.
“I think we’ve come out the past two games with really great energy, and our ball-movement has looked good,” said Haley. “Then this is always such a fun night with ‘Playing For Pink’ and ‘Youth Night,’ so there’s always a great energy with this game.”