WINTHROP — The Ramblers celebrated what they thought was a goal with one second left in the first half, only to find out it didn’t count.
Instead of letting the call distract them, Winthrop got fired up.
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The Ramblers scored three times in a dominant second half to beat Central 3-0 in an Eastern Maine Class C field hockey semifinal game Saturday.
“We were very upset but we just turned it around and said we weren’t going to let it get to us, and we were going to do it again,” Winthrop captain Nikki Burgess said.
No. 2 Winthrop improves to 12-2-2 and advances to play No. 1 Dexter in the regional final 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Weatherbee Complex in Hampden. No. 3 Central ends the season at 9-7-0.
The Ramblers thought they had taken a 1-0 lead when a shot by Shauna Carlson found the back of the cage on a penalty corner. The officials ruled, however, the ball never left the circle and therefore waved off the goal.
Carlson showed a moment of frustration before Winthrop coach Sharon Coulton pulled her aside.
“My coach came up to me and told me, ‘Shauna, you really have to set an example for the team and let them know you can come back and not let that ruin us,’ ” Carlson said. “We knew if we could come back and score we could frustrate them and capitalize on that.”
Carlson and the Ramblers did rebound from it and dominated the second half. They took the lead on a long shot by Carlson that deflected off of Central goalie Bree Skolfield with 21:07 left in the second half.
Winthrop did not allow a shot or a penalty corner in the second half. Central managed just three shots and two penalty corners in the game. Winthrop, meanwhile, had 20 shots and 12 corners.
“What’s wonderful about this group is when the coaches were conferring and we got over there, they had already decided they were not going to let that be the deciding factor,” Coulton said of her team’s reaction to the disallowed goal.
The Ramblers made it 2-0 with 9:43 left when Lauran Kaiser punched in a pass from Emmah Spahr. Winthrop added an insurance goal with 8:05 left in the game when Rahcel Ingram set up Mary Claire Blanchard for a goal.
Scott Martin — 621-5618
smartin@centralmaine.com
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