WATERVILLE — For the Gardiner Area High School field hockey team, revenge was a dish best served cold, and on the artificial turf of Thomas College.

In 2013, the Tigers’ season ended in a Eastern Class B semifinal loss to Old Town, in a game that went down to a penalty corner shootout to determine a winner.

“I do have to say, on the bus, that might have been mentioned several hundred times,” Gardiner coach Sharon Gallant said.

On Tuesday, there was nothing so dramatic, as Gardiner’s first-half goal stood as the game-winner, giving the top-seeded Tigers a 1-0 win over the Coyotes.

“We came out and we wanted revenge,” Gardiner senior captain Abby Dyer said. “I think our teamwork really showed this game.”

Gardiner, now 14-1-1, will face No. 7 Belfast (9-7) on Thursday at Hampden’s Weatherbee Complex for the right to play in the Class B state championship game. The game time will be announced on Wednesday. No. 4 Old Town ends the season at 9-7.

This game was marked by Gardiner’s exceptional defensive effort. Old Town never got a shot on goal. While the Coyotes had four penalty corners, all were in the first half, and three came in a two-minute spurt approximately 10 minutes into the game.

“We’ve really tried this year to have (defense) be our focus. Sometimes I think your best offense is a good defense. We’ve really worked hard to make that a wall back there,” Gallant said.

A key to the Gardiner defense was containing Old Town’s Brooke Sullinski, Dyer said.

“We knew (Sullinski) had breakaways in games before, so we wanted to shut her down,” Dyer, who did a good job controlling play in the midfield, said.

Gardiner’s goal came with 16:17 left in the first half. Freshman Hailee Lovely scored by knocking the ball past the left side of Old Town keeper Corinne Saucier. Grace Kelley assisted on the goal. The Tigers had other good scoring chances, particularly in the first half, but Saucier, who made seven saves, turned them away to keep it a one-goal game.

“We peppered them with a lot of shots, but their goalie, she’s good. She made some remarkable saves,” Gallant said. “Two I thought for sure were goals. On one of them, I totally turned around, because I thought for sure it was in, and she somehow kicked it out.”

Gardiner goalie Kaylin Mansir never had to make a save, but she stayed involved by helping keep her teammates aware of Coyote movements on the field.

“(Mansir) was very focused. I could hear her yelling to her defense the whole time. It looked like she wasn’t busy, but she was pretty busy,” Gallant said.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM