DIXFIELD — Dirigo believed a week ago if it could win one field hockey game — any game — that its season would start falling into place.
The Cougars’ faith was rewarded again Monday afternoon. Brooke Holmquist’s goal just under five minutes into the contest was enough for a 1-0 victory over neighbor and rival Mountain Valley in an MVC and Western Class C clash at Harlow Park.
It was the fourth win in eight days for Dirigo (4-4) after a sputtering start against a weighty schedule that included 2012 state finalists Lisbon and Winthrop.
“Individually we all knew that we had talent, but we hadn’t been able to put it together, and then it came,” said Holmquist, one of nine Dirigo seniors. “Our first four games of the season were hard ones. The game at St. Dom’s, once we found it, there would be no turning back from there.”
Dirigo shut out St. Dom’s and Boothbay by a combined score of 13-0 and turned back Hall-Dale, 4-2.
Contrary to what the score indicates, the Cougars dominated play to grab their first regular-season victory over the Falcons in many seasons. Dirigo unleashed 16 shots and 10 penalty corners, while winning goalie Amanda Dolloff needed to put a pad on the ball only once all afternoon.
“Our scrimmage in the preseason we beat them 5-1, and we talked about how we can’t rely on that. We’ve been watching them and they’ve been playing pretty good. The scores (against them) haven’t been so high, so we were saying don’t think this is going to be easy,” Dirigo coach Gretchen Errington said. “I could tell when they were warming up. They were excited. They were pumped up. They were ready to go.”
There was an immediate Cougars flurry to start the game. It ended when Mountain Valley freshman goalie Kassie Thibodeau covered up the ball in front of the cage, leading to a Dirigo penalty stroke.
Thibodeau denied that bid by Emma Lueders. She did it again early in the second half for two of her 15 saves.
“I’m pleased because I have four freshmen and three sophomores playing. Freshman goalie, freshman sweep. I wasn’t disappointed. They kept at it,” Mountain Valley coach Melissa Forbes said. “They’re still learning to get used to playing next to each other. Little things. We try to triage the things we’re fixing. The big things first.”
Dirigo kept up the pressure after its initial penalty stroke, leading to the game-winning goal.
It happened so early, in fact, that Holmquist couldn’t remember all the details. Grace Hebert passed the ball into the circle to set up Holmquist’s deflection.
“They left me wide open up at the top, so I just took it,” Holmquist said. “I didn’t know it was actually going to go in. I just took the shot.”
Aly Carlton, Lexi Edwards and Ellie Hall led the defensive effort for the Falcons in front of Thibodeau.
Mountain Valley (2-6) simply couldn’t reverse field often enough to interrupt the Dirigo attack.
“They’ve been thinking defensively because we haven’t won games, so they always want to go back and play defense,” said Forbes, whose team lost its fifth straight game but remains in contention for a playoff spot. “I have to explain that whether we lose by one goal or three, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to score. It’s that mindset of everybody go out and try to score goals.”
That instinct suddenly comes naturally to the Cougars, who received another aggressive effort in the circle from Lueders, Brittany LaPointe, Haley Turner, Kelsey Wilson, Kelsey Hutchins, Ellie Wainwright and Rylee L’Italien, to name a few.
“We’ve been talking a lot about positive self-talk. ‘I can do this.’ We started talking about those games when we got down and couldn’t get back up, and how that self-talk affects the way you play,” Errington said.
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