SCARBOROUGH — Forward Arianna Kahler’s top priority on the field is to find the open player. Sometimes that player is Kahler herself.
Kahler emerged from a scrum and drove a low shot into the back of the cage with 9.4 seconds left in the second overtime session Thursday to lead Lisbon to a 2-1 victory over Oak Hill in the Western Maine Class C field hockey title game at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex.
The No. 3-seed Greyhounds (15-2-0) will face Eastern champion Winslow (16-0-1) at 3 p.m., Saturday at Thomas College for the state championship. This is not unfamiliar territory for the Greyhounds, who won the state title in 2012 and reached the regional final in 2013. Top-ranked Oak Hill ends its season at 15-1-1.
Turns out, timing was the biggest shocker to Kahler.
“The thing that surprised me most was that there were only 9 seconds left,” she said. “I didn’t know it was going to go in. It just kept rolling. I turned around, heard the whistle and it was like, Yay!”
Lisbon came out strong in a first half that saw a number of swings in momentum, the last going to the Raiders, who kept the ball pinned in the Lisbon end for most of the final 10 minutes.
Oak Hill continued to have the upper hand after intermission, as Kylee Veilleux finished a long pass from Hayley Marshall to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead six minutes in. It was Oak Hill’s first shot of the second half.
Lisbon took the goal hard, but not for long. Less than 2 minutes later, Kahler sent the ball across the circle to Kaitlyn Philbrick, whose hard shot found the far corner and the game was tied at 1.
“I always look for the open player,” Kahler said. “I saw Kaitlyn open on the wing. You always have to give it to the open person.”
Oak Hill enjoyed the advantage in shots (22-11) and corners (11-6) and enjoyed long stretches of possession in the middle third of the field.
Greyhounds keeper Victoria Swan made 10 saves, including four in the first overtime session, which the Raiders dominated.
“Our girls were hungry and really wanted the game,” Oak Hill coach Betsy Gilbert said. “We were right there. We just couldn’t quite finish.”
The Raiders’ starting keeper Abigail Fuller (two saves) and Megan Labbe (three) combined for five saves behind rock solid defending by Brooke Surette and Danielle Samson.
Oak Hill held the ball as much as it did because of the skills and pace of Kaylee and Kayla Veilleux, Sadie Goulet and Marshall, who repeatedly drove hard passes across the circle.
Lisbon refused to be intimidated.
“We said today whoever scores first, keep our heads up, never give up,” Lisbon coach Julie Petrie said. “We wanted to work on fundamentals, work as a team and finish. And that’s what they did — with 9.4 seconds to go.”
Now it’s on to the state final. In its last trip to the title game, in 2012, Lisbon beat Winthrop, 2-1.
“This is the best I could ask for, bring a senior,” Kahler said. “We didn’t know how far we would go with such a young team. We trust each other. When we work together, this stuff happens.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
