WATERVILLE — It wasn’t a state championship, or even a playoff game, but Skowhegan still found incentive in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A championship game.
“We really wanted to come into this game showing that we’re ready for the tournaments,” Skowhegan back Mikayla Fitzmaurice said. “We really wanted to come in and be strong.”
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Skowhegan did that with a 3-0 victory over Messalonskee. In the Class B game, Leah Edmondson had a hat trick to lift Nokomis to a 3-0 win over Belfast. Both games were played Tuesday at Colby College.
Nokomis and Belfast played to a 1-1 tie on opening day. The Warriors decided this one when Edmondson scored twice in five minutes late in the first half.
Edmondson added her third goal with 17:45 left in the game, off a pass from Morgan Fredette. Edmondson felt the turf on Colby’s Bill Alfond Field suits her game well.
“I like the turf a lot better than grass,” she said. “It’s more of a quicker game. It’s a lot more skill.”
The Warriors had trouble at times in the first half of this season scoring a lot against the league’s tougher teams, so scoring three goals against a team like Belfast was a good sign for Nokomis.
“I thought that our play in the midfield was a little sloppy,” Nokomis coach Katie Thompson said. “(But) we did a great job cutting onto balls in the circle and finishing, which at the beginning of the season, was a big problem for us. So I’m happy to see that has really improved.”
Skowhegan beat Messalonskee in both meetings this season. The Indians won 3-2 in overtime in Skowhegan on Sept. 10, and 4-2 in Oakland on Monday. Messalonskee coach Katie Gorham saw a bright spot in this game, as Skowhegan had fewer high-percentage scoring chances compared to Monday.
“We approached this as an opportunity to make some adjustments from Monday,” Gorham said. “Definitely, our defense played a lot better today. I think it was unfortunate we just couldn’t convert offensively.”
Gorham praised Messalonskee goalie Lexy Cole for her play, who made a couple of eye-popping saves, including one sliding, stack-the-pads effort. But Skowhegan was relentless, and went up 1-0 just 9:03 into the game, when Haley Holt knocked in a goal.
Makaela Michonski had the other two goals for the Indians, one in each half. Both came after pretty passes — the kind you would expect from a team of Skowhegan’s quality on turf. Playing on turf also gave the Indians a little incentive.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to play on turf against a good team,” Skowhegan midfielder Nicole Sevey said. “Our schedule, we had a few easier games, so this prepares us for later on.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com
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