FALMOUTH — As Maine Central Institute made the move to Class B from Class C this year in field hockey, Huskies senior Allison Hughes said several people wished them luck.
“Sarcastically,” she said. “It was like, you guys are going to get destroyed. We said, let’s prove them wrong.”
MCI won its first Class B state championship Saturday afternoon while ending York’s three-year reign as Class B state champ. Senior forward Addi Williams scored three goals as the Huskies overwhelmed the Wildcats 5-0 at Falmouth High.
MCI had won the Class C state title in 2015 and lost it in 2016, both times playing Oak Hill. The Huskies finished 14-3-1, as did the Wildcats, who had a 58-game winning streak snapped during the season.
“We definitely know what it feels like to lose,” said Williams. “Last year was a terrible feeling. We felt like we had it all … This year we knew had to play our game. We knew that if we worked together we were unstoppable.”
And the Huskies were. They put 18 shots on goal, got some huge saves from goalie Elspeth Taylor early, and never let up.
Williams had the only goal of the first half and MCI pulled away with four in the second. York did not have a shot on goal and only one penalty corner in the final 30 minutes.
“I think they just kept the pressure on,” said York coach Barb Marois. “It kind of kept snowballing and chiseling into (her players’) confidence and they started second-guessing and lost a little bit of their fight. Kudos to (MCI). They never stopped.
“I think we had some chances early on that could have changed the game but unfortunately we didn’t capitalize.”
The best would come just over six minutes into the game, off a York penalty corner. Sydney Bouchard, York’s leading scorer, received the insert from Bailey Oliver and moved in but Taylor made a sliding pad save, then somehow stopped the rebound as well.
Those saves , said MCI coach Nancy Hughes, “gave us the mentality, seeing her do that, of, ‘OK, she’s got us back there, we can do what we do.’ “
Williams gave the Huskies the lead with 16:55 remaining in the first half, finishing a beautiful corner play by taking a pass from April McAlpine in the middle of the circle and firing the ball inside the left post. Williams said she had missed that shot several times this year.
“I really dialed in on that corner and it was perfect,” she said.
The Huskies kept pulling away in the second half.
Williams made it 2-0 with 25:53 remaining. York goalie Julianna Kiklis had made a point-blank stop on Williams, but the Wildcats couldn’t clear the ball. Madisyn Hartley sent it back into the circle, where Williams put it into the net. Vivian Duncombe made it 3-0 with 19:15 left, then Williams completed her hat trick with 15:34 remaining, again assisted by Hartley. Allysah Green made it 5-0 with 3:23 left.
“Our game plan going in was no let-ups, keep intensity the whole time,” said Williams. “It’s such a surreal feeling.”
Nancy Hughes said the move to Class B didn’t concern her team much because the Huskies always played a Class B regular-season schedule. But winning the Class B title was certainly special.
“It’s huge for us, honestly,” she said. “It’s a special group of girls I have. When we won the C title two years ago, a lot of these girls were freshmen and sophomores. Losing it last year kind of made them refocus. We knew we had the talent to do it.”
It was a disappointing end to an unexpected season for York.
“I think a lot of people wondered where we’d get to,” said Marois. “I mean, I didn’t know … And I think the girls certainly proved something to me. I just wish we had played a little better today.”
Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or:
mlowe@pressherald.com
Twitter: MikeLowePPH
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