Central Maine field hockey players have a history of making an impact at Husson University, from sisters Erica and Elisha Dorso of Farmingdale, to Nokomis graduate Sabrina Vaillancourt, to Skowhegan grad Liz Noddin.
The Eagles have three local players on their roster this season: Sophomore Taylor Lovley of Nokomis and freshmen Mikayla Toth of Skowhegan and Taylor Shaw of Nokomis. All three have started every game this season.
Toth, interestingly, was a standout defender at Skowhegan, but still had five goals and 14 assists as a senior. At Husson, she has been the center midfielder from the first game of the season.
“She has really good vision,” Husson coach Madeline Hoeppner said. “She can distribute the ball well. Athletically, she’s in great shape.”
Hoeppner said Toth is adjusting well to her new position.
“I think she’s loving it,” Hoeppner said. “She’s enjoying her time here at Husson. She’s being academically challenged and having some fun on the field. I think it’s a good fit for her.”
Lovley scored in the first two games of the season — both Husson wins — and added an assist in the Eagles’ most recent game against Wellesley.
“She always wants the ball,” Hoeppner said. “She’s always 100 percent, and just has great work ethic.”
At the end of last season, Shaw was planning on attending the University of Southern Maine but wasn’t sure whether she would play field hockey. She leads Husson with three goals this year.
“Her and Lovley work really well together,” Hoeppner said, “so I’m trying to keep them on the same line.”
Husson is in Waterville for its next two games. The Eagles play Colby Wednesday night at 7 and face Thomas at 1 p.m., Saturday.
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Peter Kirby, an assistant with the Skowhegan Area High School baseball team the last five seasons and the coach of the RTD American Legion Baseball team the last four years, has joined the Thomas College staff as an assistant coach.
“I’ve been working with the pitchers,” Kirby said. “Fall ball started last week. It’s four days a week. We do some skills days and some intrasquad scrimmages as well.”
Kirby said he and Thomas coach Greg King had been in touch about Kirby possibly coming on as an assistant this past spring. Kirby said he had already committed to coaching at Skowhegan for the spring at that point.
“Some of the guys who play on my Legion team play for Thomas, and they mentioned that Coach King was still interested,” Kirby said. “He was kind of reaching out to me, and I was reaching out to him as well.”
Thomas annually has a huge roster, but Kirby said all the players are dedicated.
“I love it,” he said. “We’ve got 40-something kids, but it’s amazing when every kid wants to play baseball. It’s nice to have every single kid out there, even in practice.”
RTD, which represents Madison Post 39, was the Zone 2 regular season champion this summer. Kirby said he plans to stay on as RTD’s coach.
“As long as there’s no NCAA regulations that wouldn’t permit me to do that, I’m definitely going to come back next year,” he said.
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Thomas College men’s soccer has won four straight games. The last three of those have been shutouts, and the Terriers have outscored their opponents 13-1 during the winning streak. It’s even more impressive when you consider the game that preceded that streak.
On Aug. 31, Thomas led UMass-Boston 3-1 with 10 minutes to play, but Elton Teixeira scored three goals for the Beacons in less than two minutes, and UMass-Boston escaped with a 4-3 victory.
That was the last real defensive lapse for the Terriers. They gave up a goal in their next game against St. Joseph’s, but have since gone 349 minutes and 43 seconds without allowing the opposition to score.
Thomas senior goalkeeper Winston Trott has a save percentage of .889, which is tied for 21st in the nation in Division III. Trott also has a goals-against average of 0.81 in his first season as a starter. On defense, Jake Sirois of Waterville and Lukas Bohman have started each game of the shutout streak.
Offensively, Maranacook grad Dakota Duplissie leads the Terriers with six goals, and Tre Ming has six assists in six games, which puts him in a tie for second nationally in assists per game. Ming also has three goals.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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