It’s something with which Jane DiPompo and Julia Parker are all too familiar.
The co-coaches of the Spruce Mountain field hockey squad, once the coaches of Jay and Livermore Falls, respectively, are used to seeing the Mountain Valley Conference’s weaker strength of schedule factor into the final standings for their teams in a a less-than-flattering way.
Things haven’t changed much in Class B.
Despite an unbeaten record at 13-0-1, Spruce Mountain will begin the Western Class B playoffs this fall as the No. 3 seed. Given the amount of points by which the Phoenix trail No. 2 Fryeburg and No. 1 York, even a late-season surprise tie with Telstar didn’t make any difference.
“We were very happy with how the girls played this year,” Parker said. “The way they all came together, bringing together the two schools and playing together, we were very happy with how the season went.”
That does nothing to finish the stellar season Spruce Mountain put together, a season that included a 49-11 positive goal ratio and seven shutouts in 14 games. Included in those victories are a pair against Winthrop — the Ramblers’ only two losses of the season — and another two against Lisbon, which also grabbed a No. 3 seed in it’s Western Class C draw.
“The MVC is a tough conference to play in, and we’re really happy to see all the teams make it into the tournament,” Parker said.”
Perhaps the biggest shock in the Western Class B draw came in the season’s final week. Leavitt Area High School pushed all season trying to get into a home-field advantage situation. With only a game or two remaining in the season, it appeared the Hornets had succeeded. But a late-season points shift based on a result from the Western Maine Conference caused them to flip-flop with Greely in the 4-5 positions, and now the teams will battle in their quarterfinal matchup next week at Greely. The point differential was less than 1.8 points.
“We thought we had it,” Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-McLean said. “That late game messed it all up.”
But, she said, the approach is no different than it has been all season.
“This trip is actually shorter than a lot of the trips we take during the season,” Ward-McLean said. “The only difference is that it’s at their field. We’ll be ready. It should be a typical 4-5 matchup.”
Mountain Valley, meanwhile, also had high hopes to begin the season, and by and large had a solid campaign at 8-4-2, but again the MVC strength of schedule reared it’s head. The Falcons will begin the playoffs with a preliminary contest as the No. 7 seed and will host three-win Wells for the right to face No. 2 Fryeburg on the road next week.
Lisbon, Winthrop near top in Class C
With only the two losses to Spruce Mountain to blemish it’s record, Winthrop again made it’s assault on the 10-win mark. After being stuck on nine for a few seasons in a row, Sharon Coulton’s squad has reached 10 wins in two consecutive seasons, this year coming in at 10-2-2, good for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Class C draw behind Dexter, which finished 13-1-0 with nine shutouts and only six goals against, three of, which came in it’s lone loss to John Bapst.
The Ramblers also played stingy defense this season. In the 12 games against teams not named Spruce Mountain, Winthrop allowed only nine goals against.
The Ramblers open the playoffs against No. 7 Boothbay, ironically the last team they saw in the regular season, and one of two teams against which they battled to a tie this season.
Lisbon, meanwhile, nudged into the No. 3 position in Western Class C with an 11-2-1 mark. The two losses? A pair of 2-1 setbacks, one each to Spruce Mountain and Winthrop, while the tie was a 0-0 deadlock against Class B Mountain Valley.
The 11 wins tied the Greyhounds for best in Western C, but Sacopee Valley and NYA posted better schedules, and as a result trapped the top two positions in the tournament. Lisbon will host No. 6 Waynflete, another WMC school, in the quarterfinal round.
Telstar, with the youngest squad it has fielded in a handful of years, still made the playoffs, and did so emphatically with a final-day tie against unbeaten Spruce Mountain.
Wight’s squad will need the shot of confidence as the Rebels will travel to old nemesis NYA in the quarterfinal round as the No. 7 seed.
Eddies, Vikings face tough road in Class A
Edward Little and Oxford Hills had solid seasons in the KVAC, the Eddies finishing with eight wins and the Vikings with five. Their reward? Road playoff quarterfinal matchups against two of the top three teams in the conference.
Edward Little, the No. 6 seed despite those eight victories, will travel to Lawrence on Tuesday. The Bulldogs leapfrogged Brewer into the third position with a final-day victory over Cony. EL faced Lawrence in the first game of the season, with the Bulldogs pulling out a 3-1 victory. Since then, Lawrence has battled tough with Skowhegan in a 1-0 loss, but also nearly lost to Lewiston, which EL dominated twice this season.
The Vikings, at No. 7, have an even tougher road. They begin the playoffs with a road trip to Messalonskee, which at 11-2-1 lost only to top-seeded Skowhegan and battled to a 0-0 deadlock against Lawrence. The Eagles at one time this season had a seven-game shutout streak, which included a 7-0 win over the Vikings.
Preliminary games for this year’s playoffs begin this weekend, with quarterfinal matches being held early next week.
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