WINSLOW — One way to tell a team’s expectations is how they react after certain games. For Winslow field hockey, Saturday afternoon’s 4-0 victory over Mattanawcook was great, but also an opportunity to improve.
“We have work to do,” Winslow coach Mary Beth Bourgoin said after her team’s win in the Eastern C quarterfinal. “They were a strong team. They were a physical team. We had some gaps that we have to fix before Tuesday.”
Miranda Gagne scored two goals, while Ciera Poulin added a goal and two assists. The top-seeded Black Raiders (14-0-1) host No. 4 Mount View (9-4-2) at 3 p.m., Tuesday, in the semifinals.
“I think that they have much better games in them than what they showed today,” Bourgoin said. “But a win is a win. We had some great step-up defense in our backfield, and great ball movement up the field.”
The Raiders out-shot Mattanawcook, 23-1, but were ahead only 1-0 at halftime. With 17:40 remaining in the first half, Mackenzie Winslow drove the ball forward off a Mattnawcook defender, and Gagne tipped it in for the game’s first goal.
Winslow’s first two goals in the second half came on deflections. First, Poulin sent one in off a Mattanawcook player’s stick, then another Poulin drive was re-direceted up and in by Brooke Haskell.
“We always practice that defense pushes up and tries to help the offense,” said Poulin, a junior back for the Raiders. “So we kind of play offensive-minded.”
Mattanawcook’s frustration increased during the second half. Early in the game, the Lynx lost Courtney McIntyre for a few minutes when she was hit in the face with a stick. Midway through the second half, Ava Broderick also went to the bench after taking a stick to the face. Less than a minute later, Taylor Wotton collided with a Winslow defender and went down for a couple minutes, eliciting some comments from the Mattanawcook fans.
There were no cards assessed on any of those plays, but the teams did exchange some unkind words during the postgame handshake.
“It was pretty physical,” Poulin said. “We were both very competitive, and both aggressive teams, so it’s kind of hard, when you have two really aggressive teams, to keep things under control. But it worked out fine.”
Winslow’s final goal was just bad luck for the Lynx. Poulin drilled the ball in from well outside the circle, and Mattanawcook goalie Lauren Page alertly stepped aside to let the ball through. If the ball had gone into or wide of the cage, Mattanawcook would have had a free hit, but the ball hit the right post and went right to Gagne for the goal.
Winslow and Mount View played on Oct. 2 in Thorndike, with Winslow winning 3-2 in overtime.
“It’s always fun to play Mount View. It’s always tough to play Mount View,” Bourgoin said. “They have some great players. So I look forward to it, and I know the girls do, too, because we love playing Mount View, and it’s always a great game.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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