READFIELD — Freshman Hailee Lovely was called up from the junior varsity recently to add a little more punch to the Gardiner field hockey team’s offense. Saturday, she added just enough.
With just over eight minutes left to play, Lovely redirected a pass from junior Bryce Smith into the goal to give the top-seeded Tigers a 1-0 win over pesky No. 8 seed, Erskine Academy in an Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinal played on the turf at Kents Hill School.
With the win, Gardiner (13-1-1) gains a rematch Tuesday against Old Town which eliminated the Tigers from the tournament last fall after the second round of penalty corners. Erskine finishes at 5-9-1.
There was nothing easy about this win. The Tigers controlled the ball for nearly all of the first half and peppered the Erskine defense with shots. The Eagles were up to the challenge.
Senior goalie Kelby Leary (nine saves) kicked out a half dozen shots while senior sweeper Katie Gamage prevented many of those from reaching the net. All this with a pair of defensive starters missing from the lineup due to injuries.
“They played us real well during the season (a 1-0 Gardiner win),” Gardiner coach Sharon Gallant said. “They have improved drastically over the last couple of years.”
It’s been a four-year process, according to Erskine coach Skip Chadbourne, in teaching the team not only how to play “but how to win.”
Saturday’s first half, though, belonged to the Tigers. With senior captain Abby Dyer controlling midfield with her stops and aerial passes, the Eagles were penned into their own end of the field. Junior forward Nickyia Lovely whistled a couple of shots just wide of the cage.
“We couldn’t get it in the goal,” Hailee Lovely said.
Encouraged by their first-half performance, the Eagles came to life in the second half and generated some offense. Kaitlyn Sutter nearly gave them the lead after Gardiner goalie Olivia Philbrook (three saves) was drawn out of position but senior back Emily Michaud saved the score with a timely stop at the goalmouth.
“That’s the fifth one she’s saved for us this year,” Gallant said. “She is tight back there.”
Maddy Beaulieu nearly put the Tigers on the board just inside 10 minutes, but her shot went wide of the goal as well. In all, Gardiner took 20 shots to four for the Eagles.
Lovely, who scored 17 goals for the JVs this season, broke the ice with her goal at eight minutes and four seconds on another opportunity started by a pass into the penalty area from Dyer.
“She’s good both offensively and defensively,” Gallant said.
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