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YARMOUTH — Opponents have been looking for an answer for the Winthrop/Maranacook field hockey team in Class C for seven years.

Spruce Mountain had the Ramblers figured out twice during the regular season. And then, in the playoffs when it’s been most difficult to beat Winthrop/Maranacook, the Phoenix did it again.

Ava Davis scored the lone goal, and Spruce Mountain’s defense held firm in the fourth quarter as the third-seeded Phoenix defeated the four-time defending state champions, 1-0, at Yarmouth High School on Thursday.

The victory sends the Phoenix (13-3-1) to their first Class C title game since 2018, which they lost to Winthrop, the beginning of the Ramblers’ stretch of winning five of six state championships. Spruce will face C North champion Foxcroft on Saturday at Lewiston High School.

The fourth-seeded Ramblers (11-6), who were playing in their ninth straight regional final Thursday, saw their streak of state championship game appearances end at seven.

“We’re feeling so proud of ourselves, we’ve worked so hard to get here,” senior back and captain Grace Cuthbertson said. “We put in all the extra hours this whole season, and we had something to prove tonight. I think we just proved it.”

Winthrop withstood the graduation loss of Madeline Wagner, the state’s second all-time leading scorer, to again reach the brink of a state final. But while the Ramblers brought pressure, accumulating 10 corners to four for the Phoenix, they couldn’t find the tally they needed.

“At the beginning of this season, nobody would have pegged us being here,” Winthrop coach Melissa Perkins said. “We graduated a real tough class; for those nine years, we’ve had some pretty big stars on those teams. We’re a young team and I’m so proud of them. To be here tonight is just such an honor.”

Spruce Mountain defeated Winthrop 2-0 and 2-1 during the regular season, but the Phoenix knew knocking off the Ramblers on the playoff stage was going to take a little bit more.

“There were a lot of nerves,” Davis said, “but I knew we could do it in the end.”

Davis got her chance to make it happen in the second quarter. With 11:56 to go on Spruce’s first corner of the game, sophomore Aisla Armandi smacked a hard shot that Davis, a senior, was in perfect position to tip home.

“It was a lot of commotion, a lot of things going on around me. But I was in my spot, where I needed to be,” she said. “I just saw the ball and I hit it in. I’m looking to get a tip on it, but sometimes it doesn’t happen, sometimes it does. Luckily, it did.”

The focus then shifted to the Phoenix defense as Winthrop fought to keep its streak alive. The Ramblers got six corners in the fourth quarter, but a defense led by Cuthbertson, Malarie Richards, flyer Quinn Johnson and goalie Kyleigh Marcotte held firm.

“We do corners every day, just to get it locked down,” Cuthbertson said. “It definitely gets a little nerve-wracking. I definitely feel bad for the front line, having to run back all those times. It can’t be easy.”

Neither can ousting a four-time champion.

“It’s hard to beat a good team three times in a row,” Spruce Mountain coach Alex Bessey said. “But we wanted it, and we did it.”