OLD TOWN, Maine — John Bapst certainly had a distinct offensive advantage in Saturday’s Class B field hockey clash with Old Town, outshooting the Coyotes 25-7.
But the Crusaders from Bangor frustrated themselves at times by not capitalizing on some scoring opportunities.
Coach Gina Schuck’s club would take advantage of enough of them, however, as Marianne Ferguson scored a first-half goal and Elise Tilton another in the second as the undefeated Crusaders earned a hard-fought 2-0 victory.
Ferguson, a senior forward, put the Crusaders (7-0) on the board with 5:01 left in the first half, accepting a pass from Brianne Robertson, settling the ball on her stick and slipping it past Old Town goalie Danyle Boobar.
“It was just a loose ball at the stroke mark,” said Ferguson.
Bapst added some insurance 5:31 into the second half, as freshman Elise Tilton knocked home a Katrina Daigle cross.
Old Town’s field, which is laid out across the baseball outfield, is fairly bumpy, so the Crusaders struggled to control the ball at times.
“It was definitely tough to keep it on your stick on the free hits,” Ferguson said.
Schuck added, “This field’s very, very bumpy, so it’s hard to know where the ball is going to be.”
Senior Megan Smith and sophomore Aubree Stanislawski split time in net to earn the shutout, with Smith making one save in first-half action and Stanislawski turning aside four shots in the second half.
Since Old Town (1-6) doesn’t field a junior varsity squad, Stanislawski, who sees a lot of action at the JV level, gained some quality playing time.
“I figured this would be a game where I could get her into a varsity game,” said Schuck.
Stanislawski did a fairly solid job in the cage, especially late in the second half where the Coyotes had their best chances to get on the board.
“She made some good decisions without a doubt,” Schuck said. “She makes good decisions and that’s what you have to be in the cage is confident.”
Minus that one stretch in the final couple minutes of the game, the Crusaders controlled play offensively while their back line did a solid job of keeping Old Town’s attackers at bay.
After spending the last two seasons competing in the Class C ranks, Bapst has moved back up to Class B, a reclassification that Schuck favors for a variety of reasons.
“When you get to playoffs you’re usually not playing a team for the third time. I like that about playoffs,” she said.
Undefeated halfway through the season, the Crusaders hope the momentum keeps on rolling through what will be a challenging second half, with games against Mattanawcook of Lincoln and Dexter on the schedule.
“We definitely want to keep succeeding, we’re going to take it one game at a time,” said Ferguson.
Boobar finished with 15 saves for Old Town.
