Thomas College field hockey coach Andrea Thebarge has 14 newcomers on her team, and she’s already making sure some of them play key roles.

When Thomas opened the season with a 4-3 loss to Nichols on Saturday, the Terriers had five freshmen in the starting lineup: Becca Boyce (Nokomis), Crystal Cunningham (Dexter), Brooklyn Curry (Belfast), Michelle Greene (Winslow), and Erin Nelligan (Walpole, Mass.). Four other freshmen saw time off the bench.

Thebarge is optimistic about the Terriers this season. Cunningham is starting at the key center midfield position, and Greene showed a great scoring touch in preseason. Curry is at left midfielder and Boyce is at left back. Those are also key positions because they make up the defense on the offense’s strong-stick side.

As you might expect, Thebarge said the key is how fast the newcomers can adjust to the college style of play.

“We do a lot more tactical things on the field, instead of just hit and hope,” she said.

Thomas also lost 3-0 to Bridgewater State on Sunday. Boyce and Cunningham both missed that game after being injured against Nichols. Thomas doesn’t play again until next Wednesday, and Thebarge said both should be back by then.

“Becca’s already back,” she said. “Neither one of them are serious.”

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Matt McClintock had a familiar result Friday for cross country fans in Maine: He finished first overall.

This time, it was in a five-team college meet, and McClintock’s first-place finish helped Purdue earn a 27-29 win over a Notre Dame team ranked No. 25 in the country.

McClintock, a Madison Area Memorial High School graduate, finished the 6-kilometer race in 18 minutes, 54.8 seconds. Johnnie Guy, another Purdue freshman, finished second overall, in 18:57.3.

“Those two guys for us sat back and made a great move with 2K to go,” Purdue head coach Lonnie Greene said in a press release. “They created a degree of separation that was very noticeable. They closed out and won the race by 350 meters.”

Messalonskee graduate Harlow Ladd, also a freshman at Purdue, placed 22nd overall, with a time of 21:00.5.

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Belgrade native Teraysa White has transferred from New England College to The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., where she will play her final year of college eligibility for the women’s ice hockey team.

St. Scholastica’s coach is Jackie MacMillan, who coached White as a freshman at NEC. That year, White set school records with 798 saves and a .933 save percentage. In her career at NEC, White won 31 games and posted a 2.25 goals-against-average.

White was named the ECAC East Goalie of the Year as a sophomore and a junior. CSS opens its season Nov. 2 against Concordia.

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

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