WATERVILLE — Losses for the Skowhegan field hockey team are rare, those of the one-sided variety practically unheard of.

But Messalonskee handled the defending regional champions with a crisp passing attack on the turf at Bernatchez Field on Friday night at Thomas College, prevailing 3-0.

Freshman Autumn Littlefield scored the first two goals of the game on blistering shots off penalty corner feeds from senior Emily Hogan. Senior Nathalie St. Pierre added a second half goal, putting in a rebound of a shot from Hogan.

Littlefield, who normally plays left back, moves up on corners to take advantage of her hard shot. Like many of the Eagles, she’s already played on off-season teams with many of her teammates, including Hogan.

“We’ve played on a lot of team together and everybody’s really skilled,” Littlefield said. “I think that really helps. Once we got in the field everything just clicked.”

The score might have been more lopsided if not for some spectacular work by Indians goalie Leah Kruse who finished with 13 saves on 27 Messalonskee shots.

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“She played both halves amazing,” Skowhegan coach Paula Doughty. “After missing most of last season you weren’t sure what she could do.”

The Indians started several underclassmen, including two freshmen in the forward line and another at center mid. They also played without senior scoring star Brooke Michonski, who is out indefinitely after suffering a concussion in a preseason game.

“Considering how young we are and how good Messalonskee is, I’m coming away from this feeling pretty good,” Doughty said.

The Eagles were coming off a 1-0 win against Cony in their season opener in which they struggled at times.

“My girls really synced very well today,” Messalonskee coach Katie McLaughlin said. “Our passing game finally hit today. We worked on that and transitioning this week and it finally paid off.”

The turf also worked in favor of the Eagles, who were generally bigger and faster than their younger opponents.

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“I think because it’s faster, it forces us to use our speed more,” Hogan said.

Hogan was one of the team’s offensive catalysts, along with St. Pierre, Riley Field and Saige Knight. The Eagles came at the Indians in waves and keep them on their heels most of the game, out-shooting them 27-10 and holding an 8-3 advantage in penalty corner.

Skowhegan opened the game with a bang, putting three quick shots on Eagles goalie Hannah Pinney. But she only would finished with four saves since most of the action was at the other end of the field.

Littlefield scored her first varsity goal seven minutes into the game as she took a pass from Hogan and rifled in into the right corner of the cage. Ten minutes later she scored on a similar shot that took a bounce over Kruse’s stick and showed no sort of freshman nervousness.

“I was pretty nervous but once you step on the field that disappears and you just play,” she said.

St. Pierre made it 3-0 10 minutes into the second half when she tapped a rebound into an open net after Kruse robbed Hogan in front. Skowhegan’s defense also played well and took a couple of goals away from the Eagles.

The teams play against in Skowhegan on the final game of the regular season.

“This was good for our girls,” Doughty said. “They’ll learn from this. I feel really good about where we’re going.”


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