With just two games to play, the Jay Tigers appear to have sewn up a playoff spot. But it’s close.
“It would help to win another, for sure,” Jay coach Jane DiPompo said. “Both games we have left are huge.”
This, of course, after a 4-1 victory on the road at Lisbon that catapulted the Tigers ahead of the Greyhounds.
Wins in the upcoming games — either game, really — would be big for the Tigers.
First on the docket is Class B Mountain Valley on Friday, the rematch of a 2-0 Mountain valley victory earlier in the season.
The second is a game against MVC rival Winthrop, a team making its own waves in Eastern Class C. The Ramblers are coming off a 3-2 double overtime defeat to Livermore Falls on Monday.
“If we could get one of those, we could go fifth in the standings,” DiPompo said. “That would be huge, because instead of playing a Telstar, a Livermore Falls or an NYA first, we’d play a team closer to our caliber in the first round.”
The Tigers began the season with a goal to remain competitive in every game, win or lose. Some dubbed the season a “rebuilding year,” but DiPompo did not.
“Sure we have only a few seniors, but the thing is, this year it’s hard to say it’s a building year,” DiPompo said. “These seniors have been to the playoffs, they’ve been to NYA, and the goal has been to bring along the freshmen and sophomores this year. Our seniors have been instrumental in getting us as far as we are now. They’re small in numbers but big on experience.”
Scrunched schedule
With three days left the season, Telstar still has three games remaining on its schedule. Even the most rudimentary math skills can tell you that’s a game each day, which can be taxing on the girls, especially with so much on the line.
“At least they’re all at home,” Telstar coach Gail Wight said. “We get a chance to stay at home, and Friday’s game, we have a teachers’ workshop so the kids will get to sleep in, too. I don;t care what anyone says, the travel does wear on you after a while.”
The Rebels are ranked second in the latest Heal Points, and Livermore Falls appears catchable under the right scenarios. Also in the mix for the top spot in Western Class C is North Yarmouth Academy out of the Western Maine Comference, though the Panthers sit in third with one game to play.
“Even if our Wednesday game is rained out, we’ll probably play it Saturday,” Wight said. “So that’s still three in a row. And none of the games we have left are easy, I don’t care what the records of the teams we’re playing are.”
Particularly potent is Mountain Valley, always a tough division foe for Telstar.
“They’re a different team now, and I know we are too since the last time we played,” Wight said. “I don;t expect in any of these games to go in and just expect them to allow three or four goals and it be easy.”
If the Rebels can overcome what has become a season-long tradition of starting slowly, Wight said, they’ll be just fine, back-to-back games or not.
“If you look at the whole season, our first 10 minutes in most games have been tough,” Wight said. “If we can avoid that, we’re going to be just fine.”
Still unbeaten
With a week remaining on the schedule, but one field hockey team in Maine remains unbeaten.
To no one’s shock, the Skowhegan Indians are that team.
With one game left on their schedule, the Indians are 13-0, have scored 71 goals this season while allowing just three.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
