THORNDIKE — It was less than two weeks ago that Mount View field hockey was 2-2-2, and everyone was asking what was wrong. Now, the Mustangs have won four in a row, and they’re again looking like one of the top teams in Eastern C.

The Mustangs improved to 6-2-2 with Thursday’s 2-0 victory over Nokomis. Kersey Boulay and Austyn Thomas had the goals for Mount View.

“As a whole, I think we’re doing great,” Mount View coach Gloria Hewett said. “I think my team has turned around. They’re focused, and they’re supportive of each other, and they’re fired up to do well. Their passing was really good today. We had a lot of nice give-and-goes on both sides of the field. I saw lots of good things happening.”

Boulay is an outstanding center midfielder for the Mustangs, but Nokomis (2-6-1) also has a first-rate center mid in senior Mikayla Charters. In the opening minutes, Charters kept Boulay from completely taking over the game, but the Mustangs were so strong overall that they seized the advantage anyway. Only a few nice defensive plays by Nokomis back Kirsten Costedio kept Mount View off the board early, and with 19:43 to go in the first half, Boulay took a pass from Megan Mikel at the top of the circle and fired a shot inside the left post for a 1-0 lead.

The Mustangs couldn’t sustain the all-out pressure, but still went up 2-0 with 6:21 left in the half. Reanna Boulay sent a medium-speed shot that was heading to the right of the cage, but Thomas raced over and pushed it in to make it 2-0.

The Warriors thought Rosalie Bowman scored less than two minutes later, but the officials noticed the ball hitting Bowman’s body before the goal. Nokomis carried the momentum of that chance into the second half, rolling up seven penalty corners in the first 10 minutes.

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“As soon we thought they we were better than they were, we started playing less aggressively,” Hewett said.

Mount View goalie Dinah Bilodeau left the game after the first half with a bruised shoulder. Backup goalie Alexis Bowman, a freshman, stepped in and made a couple nice saves.

“I thought in the second half, we did a really good job,” Nokomis coach Kristy Veazie said. “Once we could get it past their midfield, I thought we really pressured hard. But you gotta finish.”

The top eight teams in Eastern B make the playoffs, and Nokomis was ninth on Tuesday night. The Warriors’ defense is strong enough to keep them close against anyone, but Nokomis has a total of eight goals in nine games.

“I want to see them score,” Veazie said. “I think the defense is figuring it out. We’re marking better. We’re playing our angles better, recovering better. I still think we need to play a whole 60 minutes, but yeah, I just want to see them put the ball in the cage.”

Mount View has one of its biggest tests of the regular season on Thursday afternoon against visiting Winslow. The Black Raiders are first in the Eastern C Heal points with a record of 9-0-1, and Kersey Boulay said the Mustangs need to come out aggressively, and stay that way.

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“We’ve been a little timid at first, but usually by the first few minutes, we start to get more intense,” Boulay said. “I want us to start out with intensity, and keep it through the whole game.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Matt_DiFilippo


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