HAMPDEN, Maine —- The Skowhegan High School girls field hockey team was tested by a very good Lawrence High School team in its quest to capture a 14th consecutive Eastern Maine Class A championship Thursday night.
But after an evenly played first half, the Indians turned in an impressive second-half showing to post a 2-0 victory.
Senior forward Renee Wright scored a late first-half goal and junior forward Brooke Michonski added an insurance goal with 4:14 remaining in regulation as the 15-2 Indians earned a third consecutive showdown with Scarborough in Saturday’s 11 a.m. state final at Thomas College in Waterville.
Skowhegan will be seeking its 13th state title in 14 years.
Lawrence of Fairfield wound up 14-3.
“We knew we had to come out strong in the second half,” said Michonski, sporting a swollen lip after taking a ball in the mouth in the first half.
“We had to have our butts on fire,” said Wright. “We really came together as a team.”
“We have been a second-half team all year long,” said Skowhegan coach Paula Doughty.
After each team generated three shots in the first half, Skowhegan had a 14-3 edge in shots in the second half only to have junior goalie Emily Tozier make a number of superb saves to keep her Bulldogs within one until Michonski sewed up the win.
Lawrence had two good chances to open the scoring in the first half, but McKenna Rogers’ blistering spin-around shot glanced off the far post, and Skowhegan goalie Leah Kruse made a good pad save off Hallee Parlin, who was set up in front by Rogers.
Wright scored with 1:31 left in the half after being set up by Kealey Bowman.
Bowman made a short dash down the left side of the circle and wristed a low pass across to Wright, who redirected it on goal.
“The goalie kicked it out but I was right there for the rebound and I swept it in,” said Wright.
Skowhegan controlled play in the second half and the Bulldogs had trouble generating an attack as the aggressive Indians gave them little time and space with the ball.
Tozier made two rapid-fire saves off Cassidy Clement and Haley Thebarge midway through the second half to preserve the one-goal deficit. She got her right toe on Thebarge’s rebound attempt labeled for the far corner.
Kruse was forced to make an important save right before Michonski’s clinching goal as she thwarted Dominique Lewis’ in-close attempt.
Michonski’s goal was set up by Tori Mullin and Clement.
Mullin had the ball down the right flank and threw it across the middle, where Clement directed it to Michonski at the far post.
Michonski found herself in a one-on-one situation with Tozier, who had scrambled from post to post to try to make the save.
“We practiced one-on-ones yesterday,” said Michonski. “As a left wing, I tend to stop it on my backhand. So I pulled it to the left and put it across to the far post.”
Lawrence senior midfielder Taylor Watson said her team turned in a solid performance.
“We played real well as a team. We did everything we could. We just couldn’t put the ball in the net,” said Watson.
“It was frustrating. We’d work so hard to get the ball down in their end but we’d just miss [scoring] by a little bit,” said Lawrence senior midfielder Kapriece Dahms.
Kruse finished with three saves on six shots while Tozier wound up with 13 stops, including 11 in the second half, on 17 Skowhegan shots.