WINSLOW — After 50 minutes of scoreless field hockey, persistence finally paid off for Winslow High School on Saturday afternoon.
Sabrina Jandreau managed to get her stick on a loose ball behind Foxcroft Academy goalkeeper Madison Chadbourne with 9:35 remaining as the second-seeded Black Raiders went on to deal the third-seeded Ponies a 2-0 defeat in a Class B North semifinal contest. Winslow — which, despite some promising opportunities, was stymied throughout most of the afternoon by Chadbourne (11 saves) — will play No. 1 Gardiner for the regional title Tuesday at Thomas College.
“(Foxcroft is) an amazing program and we know their tradition,” Winslow head coach Mary Beth Bourgoin said. “It’s a huge relief to get past them and both teams played a great game.”
The Black Raiders finally broke through on their 10th penalty corner of the afternoon, as a play out to the top of the circle was sent on goal after a quick give and go. Jandreau — who initially triggered the corner from the end line — was then in perfect position along the right post for the redirect.
“Really what came together was a lot of teamwork and a lot of collaborating,” Jandreau said. “We’ve been working a lot in practice on making sure that we’re getting in front of the goal and we’re ready on the post. A lot of it was just everyone working together.
“It was a ball that was sent in from along the midfield from behind the 25 (yard line) and it was a tip from (Weslee Littlefield) at the stroke line and then I tipped it.”
From there, Winslow made sure to leave little doubt of the outcome as Jessica Greeley ripped a shot from outside the left side of the circle that found the netting portion of the cage with 4:19 to play. For the game, Winslow held a 13-7 edge on corners and 13-2 advantage in shots on goal.
Foxcroft did not attempt a shot on goal in the second half, but that was not indicative of the pressure the Ponies’ attack put on the Black Raiders’ defense throughout. Foxcroft generated a number odd-man rushes in the second half — frequently with the speedy Alli Bourget leading the way — but each time Winslow was up to the task.
“They definitely have a lot of speed on their front line — which, we knew before that they’d be fast — and they have really good throws on the sideline,” senior back Ciera Poulin said. “We just were determined that we weren’t going to let them score and it just pushed us all to work that much harder to get back on defense to stop them.”
Poulin and sweeper Susan Grant adeptly prevented the Ponies from getting shots off on a number of promising scoring chances for Foxcroft throughout the second half.
“They’re a good unit and Susan has just grown into this awesome sweeper,” Bourgoin said. “With Ciera’s leadership back there and (goalkeeper Delaney Wood’s) leadership it’s been a pretty good, solid unit.”
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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