Field Hockey Starts With Two Wins, Football Falls at Natick

September 10, 2026
•  The Fall Sports Season is officially underway! 

The Needham varsity field hockey team started the 2026 season strong, beating Newton North 1-0 Tuesday, September 8th, then blowing out Weymouth a day later in the home opener 8-0 at Founder’s Field at DeFazio Park. Rockets varsity football opened their season on Thursday, September 10th at Natick, falling 41-0 on the road.

Both teams were coming off rough seasons in 2025, with field hockey winning just five games, though still making the playoffs and giving higher ranked Acton-Boxborough a tough fight, before falling 1-0. Football failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2022, with their first win coming against Framingham in the final week of the regular season.

In Tessa Taylor’s second season as field hockey head coach, the Rockets are already 2-0, thanks to an improved offense, which has already scored nine goals. Against Newton North, sophomore Kathryn Brinkhaus scored the lone goal to lift Needham over the rival Tigers.

Against Weymouth on Wednesday, a game broadcast recorded by The Needham Channel, the Rockets got on the board early thanks to junior Lila Hassan, not even a minute into the contest. Later in the first quarter, junior captain Sydney Leibman scored to give Needham a 2-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Brinkhaus picked up her second goal of the season, with Hassan following with her second of the game and of the season. With 6 and a half minutes left in the half, junior Shriyah Worah was awarded a penalty shot, which the Weymouth goalie deflected. However, Worah was awarded a second chance when the refs determined that they placed the first shot too far away.

Worah made the most of that second chance, scoring her first goal of the year and giving Needham a 5-0 lead. The Rockets added to that lead before halftime, as Brinkhaus buried her second goal of the game and third of the season.

In the second half, sophomores Caitlin Cooper and CC Hug each scored to seal the 8-0 win. Needham will face a big test on Monday, September 14th, when they go to rival Wellesley, who the Rockets have not defeated since a 2-1 home win back on October 4, 2023. They return home on Wednesday, September 16, to host Milton, a game that will be recorded by The Needham Channel.

The last time Needham Football visited Natick’s Memorial Field, the Rockets knocked off the RedHawks 20-7, Needham’s first win at Natick in ten years. Thursday night was a much different story, as the Rockets fell behind 34-0 before the first quarter ended.

Natick got their offense going with a 39 yard completion from Matt Cassie to Michael Moratelli, which led a few plays later to a four yard touchdown run by Levi Oliviera with 6:58 to go in the first. Less than four minutes later, Oliviera scored again from four yards out.

But it only got worse from there, as Needham fumbled the kickoff and two plays later, Brandon Leshinski caught a seventeen yard TD reception from Cassie. Natick would then score two more times with under a minute to go in the quarter, with Oliviera rushing in from two yards out, then Cassie connecting with Leshinski for a 33 yard TD.

Needham would finally start moving the ball on offense in the second quarter, putting together a 60 yard drive. However, it stalled on a fourth down at the Natick seven yard line. The RedHawks then marched down the field and reached the end zone one more time on a 47 yard TD pass from Cassie to Colin Bubonovich.

Cassie finished the game 11-of-15 for 198 yards and three touchdowns. Bubonovich had four receptions for 104 yards and a TD, while Moratelli had five catches for 77 yards. Up next, Rockets will head to Lincoln-Sudbury next week, on Friday, September 18th, before hosting St. John’s Prep in their home opener on September 25th.

Here are highlights from Field Hockey vs. Weymouth, from this week’s edition of the Needham Channel News: