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TURNER — Avrey MacMaster’s heads-up play came at just the right time for the Gardiner field hockey team, which was searching for offense Wednesday in its Class B North quarterfinal against Leavitt.
On a penalty corner in the fourth quarter, MacMaster squared up, laid her stick low and deflected Abby McGee’s shot into the far corner to give the fifth-seeded Tigers a 1-0 win.
“At Lawrence, I had a goal that I tipped up and over the goalie,” MacMaster said. “So it just feels nice to be able to tip it up and have nobody touch it.”
Gardiner improved to 10-4-1 and advanced to face No. 1 Belfast, the defending state champion, in the semifinals Saturday. No. 4 Leavitt ended the season 10-4-1.
Gardiner coach Jess Merrill said the game would come down to which team would score first off a corner attempt.
“I told the girls we’re probably going to score off the corner, and we kept trying different variations. We’ve been looking at a lot of them (because) we knew going in that (Leavitt’s Riley Millet is) a good goalie.”
The Tigers finished with 13 penalty corners to the Hornets’ six.
Leavitt coach Cathy Marston wasn’t pleased with the advantage Gardiner was given. Leavitt got assessed two cards in the game while Gardiner wasn’t carded.
“We gave up a lot of defensive corners, so, I mean, eventually things happen,” Marston said. “You can play defense so long and you get a bad touch or a bad call, a lot of bad calls actually, really structured this game. I think one way or the other was really rough and a lot of cards were flying in one direction, so it was tough.”
Freshman saves the day
The final five minutes were frantic, with the Hornets trying to tie it.
Freshman goalie Emma Jean came up big for the Tigers. In the final minute of the game, she made a diving save to keep Leavitt off the scoreboard.
Jean, an ice hockey goalie, started the season in the field but transitioned to goalie after injuries.
“When I’m playing goalie, my mind kind of blanks and I just go with my instinct, so I just did what felt right and that was a good outcome.”
They said it
“It was definitely very intense. I’m very proud of us. We definitely pulled through that goal in the corner. That’s what we’ve been practicing. So I’m just really happy that we were able to get this game.” — Gardiner’s Davyn Swindells
“(Jean) has been phenomenal for us in goal this season and she’s really stepped up. So I’m not surprised she made that save. She’s been doing that all season.” — Jess Merrill, Gardiner coach
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