OLD TOWN, Maine —- The fifth-seeded Brewer High School field hockey team seemed poised to pull off an upset in its Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinal against No. 4 Old Town on Saturday morning.
The Witches’ second-half domination produced a tying goal from sophomore Cassie Roberts with 10:37 left in regulation and they were pressing for a game-winner.
But speedy sophomore left wing Brooke Sulinski took a pass from Lauren Gasaway and made a 50-yard sprint down the left side before scoring on a breakaway with just 1:30 left to give Old Town a 2-1 triumph.
The Coyotes, now 9-6, will move on to Tuesday’s semifinals where they will either travel to play No. 1 Gardiner or host No. 8 Erskine Academy of South China.
Brewer concluded a 7-7-1 season.
Freshman McKenna Smith had staked Old Town to a 1-0 lead in the first half.
Gasaway said she thought Sulinski would be on the left side, “because she usually is, so I tried to hit it to her as hard as I could.”
“It was such a great pass,” said Sulinski.
Sulinski had one defender chasing her but she was able to outrace her and cut in on Brooke Richards, who darted off her line to reduce the shooting angle.
“I saw (Richards) running out at me so I shot it as fast as I could,” said Sulinski. “I heard my teammates saying ‘shoot it.’ I put it in the corner between the goalie’s (right) pad and the near post. “
“I tried to cut down the angle,” said Richards. “But it was a good shot. There was probably nothing I could have done about that one.”
“Brooke is a very good player and you have to respect her,” said Brewer coach Sarah Estes, who is in her first season at Brewer after spending two seasons at Old Town where she compiled an impressive 23-7-2 mark. “It would be a shame if she doesn’t play after high school because she has the speed and the moves.”
“She can take the ball up the field with confidence and get around us,” said Brewer senior midfielder Cassy Green, who was a constant offensive threat and assisted on Roberts’ tying goal.
“We have been hounding the girls about capitalizing on their opportunities,” said Old Town coach Jamie Flagg. “We have been struggling with that. But we capitalized on our opportunities today. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Gasaway set up Smith’s game-opening goal.
She made a long diagonal pass to the right wing to Smith, who used her quickness to get into the circle before beating Richards with a 10-yard shot.
The Witches played with a sense of urgency in the second half and had the Coyotes on the back foot. Freshman goalkeeper Corinne Saucier made a couple of saves off Green before Brewer’s 10th and final penalty corner supplied the well-deserved equalizer as Green’s shot pinballed to the far post where the well-positioned Roberts directed it past the helpless Saucier.
Brewer outshot Old Town 13-6 including a 9-3 edge in the second half.
Saucier finished with four saves and Richards had one. Old Town had a 15-10 edge in penalty corners.
“Our corners are usually good but they didn’t work out today. We didn’t deliver on offense,” said Estes. “Our defense played great.”
Mackenzie Folsom and Allie Pomeroy were key defensively for Old Town and Gasaway, Sulinski and Smith were the offensive catalysts while Brewer received quality performances from Cassie Brochu and Claire Valley in addition to Green.