The fourth-year Penobscot Pioneers girls ice hockey team is playing its best hockey of the season, according to first-year head coach Meghan MacDonald.
And the Pioneers will look to take the momentum from Wednesday’s 3-1 Class A North quarterfinal win over the Winslow cooperative team into Saturday’s noon semifinal against the top-seeded Red Hornets based in Auburn.
Saturday’s game will be played at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn.
The Pioneers are made up of players from Bangor, Brewer, Hampden Academy, John Bapst of Bangor, Orono and Old Town. They are the fourth seed at 9-9-1 while the Red Hornets are 17-1 and winners of 13 in a row.
The Red Hornets feature players from Edward Little High in Auburn, Poland, Leavitt of Turner and Oxford Hills High School from South Paris.
Dana Berube’s Red Hornets have outscored their opponents 104-9 and have beaten the Pioneers 4-0 and 8-0 so far this season.
Penobscot is 3-2-1 in its last six games and has allowed just eight goals in those six games thanks to goalie Abbie Derosier.
Derosier made 36 saves in the win over the Black Tigers and had 49 in a recent 1-0 loss to the Cheverus of Portland cooperative team, which is the top seed in Class A South.
Derosier is from Brewer and was the Miss Maine Field Hockey recipient.
The Pioneers have now won at least one playoff game in all four seasons.
MacDonald said the Red Hornets are definitely a strong team.
“They are definitely a force and they have a strong goalie (Paige Fecteau), but every team is beatable and Saturday could be our day. You just never know,” MacDonald said. “We’re going to have to stop their cycling in front of our net as well as their breakout.”
MacDonald said her team is playing “incredibly well” at this point in the season.
“We’ve built momentum in the second half of the season,” MacDonald said. “We’re working on some of the little things. We’ve had some inconsistencies because we’re young but they’re working hard and the camaraderie and culture we’ve built is just fantastic.”
Derosier has been “phenomenal” in net according to MacDonald, who knows a thing or two about quality goaltending. As a player, McDonald was a goalie for the Bangor High, John Bapst and Kents Hill boys teams before playing for the Providence College women’s team.
Heading into the quarterfinal game, Derosier had posted an impressive .924 save percentage with 617 saves on 668 shots.
She has been complemented by a “very strong” defense corps composed of seniors Bella Saucier from Hampden Academy and Lily Rand from Orono; junior Alyse Sapiel from Old Town and sophomore Ashlyn Dearborn from John Bapst.
Up front, the Pioneers have been led by John Bapst junior Izzy Brideau, who is A North’s sixth-leading scorer with 14 goals and 13 assists and Brewer junior Ella Davis (17 goals, 5 assists).
MacDonald said the team has also benefitted from the play of promising freshmen like John Bapst forward Emma LaPrino, Hampden Academy forward Emily Cloutier and Old Town defenseman Charlotte Horton.
The Red Hornets feature Class A North’s top two scorers in Poland sophomore Leksi Langevin (26 goals, 22 assists) and Edward Little junior forward Kylie Dulac (27 and 20). Leavitt freshman Khloe Nadeau has 13 and 9.