FARMINGTON —Mt. Blue junior Ella Stone’s four goals Tuesday are a good indicator that she is well on her way to a full recovery after suffering a concussion just before the field hockey season began.

She missed the first two games, but her return engagement against Messalonskee was stunning as she tucked away four goals and steered the Cougars to a 5-1 victory.

“I thought we all worked together, really well, and stayed strong all the way to the end to fight for the win,” Stone said. “At halftime, we all just got together and (decided) we really want this and we just pushed.”

Messalonskee owned the first 20 minutes of the game with numerous corners. The undefeated Cougars (3-0) started flat and that allowed their opponents to get on the scoreboard first.

A penalty shot was awarded to Messalonskee when Cougars goalie Brooke Bolduc was called for obstruction. Chloe Tilley took the shot and slipped it past the diving Bolduc, giving Messalonskee a 1-0 edge in the first half.

“Those first 10 or 15 minutes we were playing so tight,” Mt. Blue coach Jody Harmon said, “and not attacking and just really nervous, I guess. Finally, we just got ourselves out that.”

But Mt. Blue snapped out of its funk and starting pressuring Messalonskee. Mt. Blue’s incursions in front of the Messalonskee net opened the floodgates for Stone’s scoring.

“It was awesome,” Harmon said about Stone’s exploits on offense. “She been out for the first two games. So this is her first game back, so I guess she’s feeling a 100 percent.

“I have been putting her in so many different places and she showed that she’s found a new home at left wing.”

Madison Bard set up Stone’s tying goal. Stone muscled her way into the right corner of the net, took the feed and scored her first goal with 3:57 left in the first half.

Everything fell into place for the Cougars in the second half, especially when Stone turned in a hat trick.

Senior Molly Harmon opened a window of opportunity with her feed to Stone, who promptly scored at 19:01 to give Mt. Blue a 2-1 lead.

The Cougars were just getting started. Bard took her turn on offense on another Harmon feed 17:41.

With a comfortable 3-1 in hand, the Cougars loosened up and their offense took Messalonskee to task.

Stone’s third goal came when Ashley Parlin and Bard partnered up to each earn an assist and hand Mt. Blue a 4-1 lead. With 10:55 left in the game, Stone topped off her scoring spree with her fourth goal off a Whitney Fraser assist. 

“I think we definitely ran out of juice,” Messalonskee coach Katie McLaughlin said. “I think that was obvious. They definitely outran us. You they never give up.

“They are one of the most tenacious teams we ever play. I think as soon as our girls felt like they were feeling like they were losing grip of things, that changed the game completely.”

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