FAIRFIELD — Throughout the Lawrence field hockey team’s undefeated season, so many of the Bulldogs’ games have been about dominance.
Saturday’s Class B North semifinal, though, was not. Saturday was about survival.
No. 1 Lawrence got an early goal from freshman Maddy Niles, then held firm against Cony’s attack in the second half to beat the fifth-seeded Rams 1-0 and punch its ticket to its third regional championship.
“It’s amazing, honestly. They were so good. It feels so great to go to the Northern Maines,” Lawrence (13-0-0) goalie Emma Poulin said. “We haven’t had anything like this in (five) years. … Every game we go in, we’re like ‘This could be our last game,’ and then we do things like this and we win. It just feels amazing. This one’s extra special.”
Cony (9-6-1) had chance after chance and look after look at upsetting the narrative, none better than a penalty stroke in the final minute of the second quarter, but couldn’t get the tying tally it needed.
“They did not give up. They played tough first half, and then the second half came around and they just pushed and pushed and pushed the entire 30 minutes,” a teary Cony coach Holly Daigle said. “We played great field hockey today. We played a great game. It’s just tough. It’s tough. That’s the thing, we did so many things well, especially in that second half, and it just hurts to come up short. But I’m so proud of them. I wanted it for them so bad.”
Lawrence had the majority of opportunities early, earning four of the game’s first five corners, and on their third, the Bulldogs took advantage. Hope Bouchard got the insert from Sage Brown, brought it into the circle and then sent a pass right to Niles, who fired and found the cage with 2:10 left in the quarter.
“We practice that every single day, and just to go through with it in a game felt amazing,” Niles said. “Most of the time, I’m thinking ‘I need to get my stick down and really get a hard shot on the goal.’ That’s what I did, it’s really exciting.”
Cony got a golden opportunity to tie the game in the final minute of the second. The Rams brought the ball into the circle and Sierra Prebit hit a shot that hit off the right shoulder of Lawrence defender Lexi Moran in front of the cage. The officials awarded Cony a penalty stroke, and Daigle tabbed Prebit to take the shot.
Lawrence coach Shawna Robinson couldn’t believe the symmetry — Cony had a penalty stroke in the teams’ last matchup a 1-0 Lawrence win Sept. 23 in Augusta.
Cony’s Natalie Dube (3) reacts after her penalty shot was blocked by Lawrence goalie Emma Poulin in a Class B North field hockey semifinal Saturday in Fairfield. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
“Same exact thing,” she said. “I was like ‘Is this deja vu? What is going on?'”
It was up to Poulin to make the stop and preserve the lead.
“I try to watch them, where they’re looking, everything like that,” she said. “We practice them so much. I’m so nervous, but I feel really ready.”
Robinson trusted her goalie to come through.
“She’s such a little peanut,” she said. “She’s just this little sparkplug in there. She’s not flashy, but she’s effective.”
She was again, stopping Prebit’s try with a kick save and helping the Bulldogs take the lead into halftime — where Robinson prepared them for the push she knew was coming.
“This isn’t done,” she said was her message. “They’re going to come after you. They don’t quit, they’re not going to quit.”
The Rams earned two corners in the third, the second of which Poulin (six saves) had to make two stops to help clear. With 13:20 to play, Cony followed up a Poulin save with a shot that got through but skidded right of the cage. With just over three minutes left, Tatiana Roque flipped up a pass in the circle, but the Rams were unable to bat it into the goal.
“Our intensity level was through the roof,” said Daigle, whose team finished with seven corners. “This one really and truly could have gone either way.”
Poulin helped make sure the Bulldogs withstood the Rams’ pressure, as did Lawrence’s defensive core of Moran, Taylor Leclerc and Liz Crommett.
“Sometimes it gets overshadowed, but we know without our defense, we don’t have an offense,” Robinson said. “They take great pride in playing defense. When they get scored on, they get mad. They get angry. And I like that. We didn’t always have that in the past.”
It’s added up to Lawrence having a chance for something else it hasn’t had: A spot in the field hockey state final.
“We haven’t gotten over that next level, and that’s what we want to do,” Robinson said. “We want to be a reputable program. We know people always look at us and they’re like ‘Oh, Lawrence is tough.’ But they’ve got to be able to take it to the next step.”
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