Every fall, there are those few athletes who come around and simply take our breath away.

In field hockey, there was Hope Bouchard’s golden season for Lawrence; on the volleyball court, Gardiner’s Lizzy Gruber had possibly the best season of any central Maine player ever; on the soccer field, Winslow’s Andrew Poulin had a season few have ever matched — just to name a few.

All of those players have moved on after graduating from their respective schools, but that doesn’t mean central Maine will be hurting for star power this fall. There’s another Lawrence field hockey standout, two more prolific scorers on the soccer field and a football star looking to make up for lost time after an injury a year ago.

Individually and for her team, there was nothing Hope Bouchard didn’t do for Lawrence in 2022. She was voted Miss Maine Field Hockey as the state’s premier senior player following a season that saw her score 10 goals and record 32 assists to lead the Bulldogs to an undefeated season and a Class B state title.

With Bouchard gone, another Lawrence player is set to take the mantle as one of the premier players in the state: Maddie Niles. A junior this fall, the Benton native is fresh off a remarkable sophomore season in which she scored 38 goals and 18 assists to aid the Bulldogs’ state championship campaign.

“I started playing when I was young, and I’ve just always kept practicing, practicing, practicing and working hard to get better,” Niles said at this summer’s Maine Field Hockey Association Festival. “We’re losing a lot of seniors, so I know I’m going to have to do more, but I’m pretty excited.”

Even as a 16-year-old, Niles’ name is already well-known. She has NIL sponsorships from three separate companies, including a maple syrup company in Topsfield, and hopes the exposure from those deals can help land her a Division I field hockey scholarship.

Speaking of players who scored goals by the bucketload last season, Poulin had one of the most prolific soccer seasons the state has ever seen. He became the second player in Maine high school boys soccer history to reach the 50-goal mark, following Damon Warren of Sumner in 2019.

Poulin, though, wasn’t the only player in central Maine to hit the 50-mark last year — in fact, there was one player who had him beat. Olivia Varney of the Maine Central Institute girls team scored 51, setting the single-season record for a Huskies team that finished an impressive 15-1.

Varney, one of just eight girls soccer players in state history to score 50-plus goals in a season, could be set for an even bigger year in 2023. With MCI needing to replace the scoring tally of another scorer, Emma Burr (37 goals last year), Varney could very well take on even more of the scoring.

There’s a similar scenario unfolding in Readfield. The Maranacook girls soccer team graduated a large group of seniors that won three regional titles and one Class C state title, setting the stage for a top returnee to take the reins as the team’s premier player.

That player is Natalie Mohlar. As a junior last year, she bagged a team-best 28 goals as Maranacook won a third straight Class C South championship before falling to Bucksport in the state final. With fellow 20-goal scorer Addie Watson having graduated, it’s Mohlar’s time to shine in 2023.

“I do feel like there’s a little bit (more pressure) on me this year, but I’m ready for it, and I’m excited for it,” Mohlar said. “We have some underclassmen from last year stepping up this year and new people coming up. I think everyone will settle into their roles, and I’ll settle into mine.”

As Skowhegan’s Adam Savage and LePage (Kyle and Collin) twins and Lawrence’s Parker Higgins made headlines on the football field last year, another star had to watch from the sidelines. In the third quarter of a game in which he’d already rushed for 191 yards, Winslow’s Matt Quirion broke his arm and would miss the next seven games.

When Quirion returned for the playoffs, though, Winslow played by far its best football of the season. After the Black Raiders upset Nokomis in the Class C North quarterfinals, they nearly took down a Medomak Valley team that had beaten them 40-0 in Week 2, Quirion’s first game sidelined.

Winslow, then, is a different team with Quirion in the backfield, and that’s something that has the Black Raiders in good spirits ahead of his senior year. Rushing for 388 yards in just 11 quarters of football last year, he’s set to put up some big numbers should he stay healthy this fall.

“He’s our leader in games, he’s our leader in practice, and he’s a leader at school,” Winslow head coach Wes Littlefield said of Quirion. “Everybody believes in him, and when he’s on the field, he makes everybody else better. He brings that mentality of physicality and toughness.”

Elsewhere, Madeline Wagner of Winthrop field hockey (39 goals, 16 assists last year) is set for a big junior season. Wyatt Evensen could put up big numbers for Mount View football after rushing for more than 1,500 yards in just seven games in 2022.

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