BANGOR, Maine — The defending state champion Foxcroft Academy field hockey team dominated virtually every aspect of Tuesday night’s Eastern Maine Class C semifinal against archrival Dexter.
But the Ponies couldn’t solve junior goalie Kaitlyn Paquin and Kolby Kain, who used to share the goalkeeping with Paquin, scored the game’s only goal, with 25:36 left in the second half as Dexter triumphed 1-0 at the Winkin Complex on the Husson University campus.
Second-seeded Dexter, now 15-1, will face top seed Winslow, 15-0-1, in Thursday’s EM final at Hampden Academy.
Foxcroft Academy finished at 14-2.
Foxcroft outshot Dexter 21-8 but Paquin finished with 13 saves, and junior sweeper Christie Nicholas was credited with three defensive saves.
Foxcroft’s Madison Chadbourne faced two shots in the first half but didn’t have to make a save, and Abby Simpson had two saves save on six shots in the second half.
“Thank God for Kaitlyn. She saved our butt many times,” said Nicholas.
“Without Kaitlyn, we would have lost,” said Dexter senior midfielder Peyton Watson, who turned an impressive second-half performance by making several dashes down the field to relieve the pressure and keep the Ponies in their own half of the field.
“They were the better team tonight,” admitted Dexter co-coach Margaret Veazie. “Our girls finally did some things right in the second half and Peyton took over. She dominated like she should have the whole game.”
Veazie criticized her team at halftime, and her tongue-lashing worked as Dexter played much better in the second half even though Foxcroft still had the better scoring chances.
“Getting yelled at by coach Veazie whipped us into shape,” said Watson.
“We just couldn’t capitalize tonight,” said Chadbourne.
Foxcroft kept the Tigers pinned in their own end in the first half and should have led by at least a couple of goals at the intermission.
But Paquin was immense.
Early in the game, she made a good initial save off a Julian Annis shot during a penalty corner and then stopped point-blank rebound attempts by Alli Bourget and Annis.
A few moments later, Paquin made rapid-fire stops off Abby Simmons and Bourget.
“It’s part of the job. You have to be prepared for it,” said Paquin, who credited her positioning with being key to her performance.
“You have to know where the ball is going and you have to think,” she added. “This was my best game of the year, by far.”
The Tigers scored on their second shot of the second half during a scramble off a penalty corner.
Watson had a shot from the top of the circle that pinballed over to Katie Batron.
Simpson made a save off Batron, but Kain converted the rebound.
“The ball came off the goalie’s pads and I tipped it in around her,” said Kain.
Watson and speedy Abby Webber were able to pressure the Foxcroft backs in the second half, and the Tigers were able to get players back behind the ball to help Paquin.
Annis and the fleet-footed Bourget created problems for the Dexter defenders throughout the game with their speed and skill.
But they couldn’t put the ball behind Paquin.