Katie (Flaherty) McCabe remembers when she began coaching in the Maine Majestix Field Hockey Club program seven years ago, “we’d go to [regional] tournaments and wouldn’t win a game.”
But things have changed dramatically over the past seven years as evidenced by the fact three Maine Majestix teams have qualified for the National Indoor Tournament through their performances at the Brown University regional qualifiers in Providence, Rhode Island, two weekends ago.
McCabe’s Under-16 team went 7-0 and won the regional, outscoring its opponents 45-9.
Two Under-19 teams also qualified as coach Madeline Hoeppner’s team went 5-2 and finished seventh out of 24 teams and coach Mallory Hancock’s U-19 squad wound up 10th.
The U-16 squad will travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for the national tournament on Feb. 20-22 while the U-19 teams will go to Richmond, Virginia, for their national tournament on Feb. 27-March 1.
“It has definitely been a gradual process. We had to learn what we needed to do to get better. We had to get everyone on board, and it took a lot of work, time and effort. The hard work has paid off,” said McCabe, who was an All-Region field hockey player at the University of Maine and was an assistant coach at Maine and Thomas College in Waterville before serving as the head coach at Bangor’s Husson University.
The Winslow native led Husson to two straight North Atlantic Conference championships and NCAA Division III tournament appearances.
McCabe, a former Miss Maine Field Hockey selection, said winning the regional was “very exciting.”
“I expected a lot from this group, but I didn’t know we were going to do this,” said McCabe, who was named the director of the Maine Majestix Field Hockey Club earlier this month.
“Our team is very fast and very athletic,” said McCabe. “We play very well as a team. I’m not sure who scored the most goals for us. Everybody scored.”
Indoor field hockey consists of 25-minute games. Each team has five players including goalies.
McCabe said everybody played well, and the two catalysts for her team were Messalonskee High School of Oakland’s Haley Lowell and Ally Corbett, who were tireless.
The other players were Mt. Blue of Farmington’s Hannah Minns, Cony of Augusta’s Delaney Keithley, Belfast’s Kiley Nelson, Messalonskee’s Lydia Dexter, Skowhegan’s Kelsey Thaller and eighth-grader Autumn Littlefield, who will be a freshman at Messalonskee in the fall.
All of the players except Littlefield are either sophomores or freshmen.
Thaller was the goalkeeper and is in her first season playing that position.
“She did very well. She’s a raw talent,” said McCabe.
The U-19 team coached by Husson head coach Hoeppner adhered to their coach’s philosophy.
“They stuck to the game plan which focused on poise and discipline. They all played really well,” said Hoeppner.
Kersey Boulay of Mount View High School in Thorndike, a Miss Maine Field Hockey finalist, and Emily Hogan of Messalonskee were Hoeppner’s offensive standouts, and Messalonskee’s Ally Leighton was the defensive stalwart.
Skowhegan’s Leah Kruse and Winslow’s Delaney Wood split the goalkeeping each game, and Miss Maine Field Hockey winner Maddy Dobecki of Scarborough, Lilla Tilton-Flood of Lawrence High in Fairfield, Brooke Haskell of Winslow, Riley Field of Messalonskee and Victoria Newbill of Mt. Blue also turned in solid performances.
Hoeppner also coached a Majestix U-16 team that narrowly missed qualifying for the nationals.
Leighton, Haskell, Newbill, Boulay and Dobecki are seniors while the others are juniors.
Former Majestix, Skowhegan High School and Bryant University (Rhode Island) standout Hancock directed her team to a berth in the nationals which marks the first time in club history two U-19 teams earned national tournament spots.
Her team featured just two seniors along with three juniors and and four sophomores.
Scarborough’s Abby Walker and Oak Hill of Sabattus’ Hayley Marshall are the seniors; Belfast’s Alicia Gaiero, Winslow’s Ciera Poulin and Lawrence’s Lauren Watson are the juniors and the sophomores are Winslow’s Hope Winkin, Skowhegan’s Haley Thebarge, Winthrop’s Katriona Hajduk and Mount View’s Reanna Boulay.
McCabe said the national tournaments will give their teams the opportunity to face the best competition and to “showcase our club and our girls. They put in a lot of time and effort and, hopefully, they’ll get noticed and get an opportunity to earn scholarships and play at the next level.”