FRYEBURG — It was a shutdown performance by the Winthrop/Maranacook field hockey team in its biggest game of the season to date.
The Ramblers held Spruce Mountain to two shots on goal in a 2-0 victory in the Class C South regional final Thursday at John H. Atwood Stadium at Fryeburg Academy.
“We took our chances when we had them, but we played solid defense,” Winthrop coach Melissa Perkins said. “My mids played back; everybody was back, and my forwards were pressuring the ball. They were really smart and calm and relaxed. They played really good hockey today.”
It’s the sixth straight regional championship for the second-seeded Ramblers.
“I have to give a lot of credit to the teams I have played with in the past,” junior Izzy Folsom said. “This year, last year, my freshman year, I learned so much from them. I came in off COVID and I wasn’t all that great of a player. I just watched them and learned from them. I am continuing to learn from anyone I can.”
Thursday’s contest was the fourth meeting this season, with the Phoenix winning the two regular season games while the Ramblers won the MVC championship game before the start of the playoffs.
Madeline Wagner said the thing the second-seeded Ramblers learned in the previous matchups wasn’t anything about the Phoenix.
“The biggest thing we learned was to play calm and play our game,” Wagner said. “We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores that play on this team. For them, it was learning that they are good enough to be here and they deserve to be here.”
Spruce Mountain coach Racheal Mastine knew it was going to be a challenging game with Winthrop.
“We knew from the get-go it was going to be tough,” Mastine said. “Winthrop is a tough team; playing them four times in one year, we knew going into it.”
The Ramblers (14-3) controlled the possession time for the first quarter, including getting an early corner. The Phoenix (15-2) cleared the ball after goalie Mallory Clark (two saves) made the save.
Winthrop got on the board late in the first quarter during its second corner when freshman Piper Clark inserted the ball to Folsom, who fired the ball into the goal just past the 12-minute mark.
“We practice corners a lot in practice,” Folsom said. “We switch them up, and like we always say, ‘If you have the shot, take it and hope for the best.'”
Top-seeded Spruce Mountain had two penalty corners late in the opening quarter but couldn’t get a shot on Winthrop goalie Cyara Harriman.
“We couldn’t capitalize. We pulled one of our frontline (players) back to defend,” Mastine said. “We couldn’t put it in the cage.”
The Phoenix got their first shot on Harriman early in the second quarter, but she made the save.
“We were doing a lot of hitting it to their sticks directly, not moving around,” Mastine said. “Winthrop was beating us to the ball and we needed to make that adjustment.”
Both teams did a solid job of keeping the ball out of the circle in the second quarter.
Folsom recorded her second point of the contest when she set up Wagner in the circle with a hard shot 4:22 into the third quarter.
“Izzy and I have been working all season, and it was a beautiful pass, I was just lucky to finish it,” Wagner said.
Mastine said the Phoenix were focusing on the Winthrop duo.
“Madeline Wagner is one of their go-to (players) and we needed to know where she was,” Mastine said. “Izzy Folsom, the same. We always needed to know where they are.”
Spruce Mountain had three corners in the third quarter and had a player advantage late in the period when Winthrop’s Kylee Mansir got carded and was sent off. The Phoenix couldn’t put a shot on the cage despite the advantage.
The Phoenix pressured the Ramblers in the circle throughout the fourth quarter. However, Harriman only needed to make one stop in the period to complete the shutout.
Perkins said the Ramblers prepared for different situations that may come up in a game.
“We talked about it a lot this week, about what we are going to do,” Perkins added. “We talked about time and score and what the plan was. They were ready for that. The juniors led the way with that and taught the younger group through it.”
Mastine said Spruce Mountain still had a year to remember, despite the loss.
“We had a phenomenal season. I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Mastine said. “It’s definitely going to be a long ride back to Spruce Mountain, but they had a great season.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
