SKOWHEGAN — In Saturday morning’s Eastern A field hockey semifinal, Skowhegan did something it almost never does: It got rattled.

But the Indians regrouped and put themselves in a position to do something they’ve done every year since 2001: Win the Eastern A championship.

Cony’s play certainly had something to do with the Indians being off their game. The Rams played with Skowhegan for most of the game before running out of gas in the final 15 minutes of Skowhegan’s 5-2 victory.

“We came in knowing that they aren’t used to losing, (and) they aren’t used to teams keeping up the intensity with them,” said Cony assistant coach Brittany O’Brien, who filled in with coach Holly Daigle on maternity leave. “We definitely gave them a scare. Our goal was to come out on top, and in the process, we wanted to show them what we were made of.”

Top-ranked Skowhegan (16-0-0) will face No. 2 Messalonskee (13-2-1) in the Eastern A final at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Weatherbee Complex in Hampden. Cony, the No. 5 seed, finishes at 8-7-1.

Skowhegan has made winning such a habit that it was a genuine shock when Cony got on the board first. Alyssa Brochu scored for the Rams with 19:47 left in the first half, and the sky-high Cony players celebrated with screams and hugs.

Cony packed the defensive circle with 11 players at times, but Skowhegan still got penalty corners, as well as the tying goal about six minutes later when Jessie Skillings tipped in a blast from Sarah Finnemore. But of Skowhegan’s first 10 penalty corners, the Indians got a shot on only two of them, as they made un-Skowhegan-like mistakes.

“We just didn’t have our rhythm,” Skowhegan coach Paula Doughty said. “It was just off. I believed they’d come out of it. They’re a good team, and they’re used to playing with each other.”

Skowhegan had 14 penalty corners in the first half, but after some wide shots and a few nice saves by Cony goalie Kevie Rodrigue, the scored stayed 1-1 until halftime. The Rams then went up 2-1 just 2:44 into the second half, when Chelsea Begin’s drive from outside the circle was deflected in by Heather Leet.

It took the Indians less than three minutes to tie the score again, as Nicole Sevey assisted on another goal by Skillings. After a couple of near-misses, Skowhegan got in its groove and sent home three goals in a span of less than eight minutes. Makaela Michonski had the first two, and Finnemore scored to make it 5-2. The Indians had 30 penalty corners in the game, and all that offensive pressure and sprinting back and forth finally wore down Cony.

“You can tell when they get their rhythm back,” Doughty said. “When we did, we kept it down in our end.”

While Skowhegan won out, Cony had made a statement and showed its improvement from earlier this season.

“The last couple weeks have been really solid for us,” O’Brien said. “It’s taken a while for us. But I really feel as though at the end of the season, we came together as one.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

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