FARMINGTON — All season long, the Mt. Blue High School field hockey team’s motto has been “attack.”
In Tuesday afternoon’s Northern A quarterfinal, the Cougars put that motto into use.
No. 4 Mt. Blue dominated possession and controlled the game throughout, holding No. 5 Edward Little of Auburn without a shot in a 3-0 victory.
“We’ve been focusing the whole season on that, honestly,” Mt. Blue senior Abby Wallace said. “We had to buckle down and say ‘We’re not coming out of this losing.'”
The Cougars, now 10-4-1, will face No. 1 Messalonskee (15-0-0) in a semifinal game Saturday at a time to be determined. The Red Eddies finish 9-6.
Not only did Mt. Blue keep Edward Little without a shot, the Red Eddies never had a penalty corner and controlled the ball deep in Mt. Blue’s end for just a fraction of the game.
“That’s just what we’ve tried to focus on offensively and defensively, never giving in, attacking the ball. Whoever is first to the ball is usually going to win,” Mt. Blue coach Jody Harmon said.
The Cougars attacked the Edward Little cage early, and in the first eight minutes of the game just missed on a few strong scoring opportunities. With 21:44 left in the first half, Mt. Blue broke through when Wallace scored on a rebound.
“I was just there in the right spot at the right time,” Wallace said.
With 5:29 left in the first half, the Cougars pushed their lead to 2-0 when Adelle Foss scored on a rebound after a penalty corner. Mt. Blue had 13 penalty corners in the game.
Wallace said the Cougars have been trying to score quickly, in the first 15 to 30 seconds of a half. In the second half, they came close. Wallace scored 32 seconds in, and Mt. Blue’s lead was 3-0.
Mt. Blue goalie Erika McArthur had an easy day, facing no shots for the shutout. Karli Stubbs made 13 saves for the Red Eddies, including eight in the second half.
“We just had to be patient and keep attacking and keep taking their shots,” Harmon said. “They have an outstanding goalie. She’s made I don’t know how many saves. We just had to find a way to get around her, and we finally did.”
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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