FARMINGTON — Mt. Blue junior midfielder Jenna Bullen was thinking big thoughts prior to her team’s field hockey quarterfinal Wednesday.
She was thinking about scoring a goal — a lofty one indeed considering she’d never scored a goal in high school.
“Before this game, that was my goal — to score a goal,” Bullen said. “I didn’t think it was going to happen, but it did.”
Bullen’s goal early in the second half lifted Mt. Blue to a 2-0 victory over Cony in an Eastern A quarterfinal win. It’s the first field hockey playoff win for the Cougars in recent memory.
“It’s the first time in a long time,” said Mt. Blue coach Jody Harmon, whose team went 8-6 last year. “I’m so happy for them. To be where we started last year and be where we are now, it’s just awesome.”
The third-ranked Cougars (12-3) advance to Saturday’s semifinals and play second-ranked Messalonskee. The Eagles beat the Cougars 3-0 during the regular season.
The game-winner came just 5:35 into the second half. Bullen couldn’t have been a better candidate for the goal. Though the play was set up wrong off a corner, Bullen made it work just fine.
“We’ve been wanting that all year,” Harmon said. “She has a killer drive. She’s done so much for us all season. It was perfect.”
Bullen took a pass from the right corner from Mikayla Oswald. Bullen was stationed differently than the play called for but attempts to reposition her failed. Then she blasted it through the crowd into the net.
“I’d never scored a goal before, so I was really shocked,” Bullen said. “It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I didn’t think it went in at first. I was just thinking I had to drive it into the goal.
“It felt really awesome. I couldn’t be more happy to win a playoff game.”
The Cougars then had to fend off Cony’s late charge before adding insurance with a Sarita Crandall goal with 18 seconds left in the game. Mt. Blue got superb defensive effort from freshman Kayleigh Fontaine. The Cougars were missing senior back Hanna Deon because of a trip to Guatemala. That put some pressure on a young defense in front of goalie Rileigh Blanchet.
“They had a huge role,” Harmon said. “I had three freshmen in the back. They just stepped up to the plate and did awesome.”
Leah St. Laurent and Hannah LeClair were also freshmen starters and helped Fontaine’s efforts in the back as the Cougars posted their sixth shutout of the season.
“We all have to get back, but I can count on them to get back behind me,” Fontaine said. “So if I miss the ball, someone ‘s going to be back behind me.”
Whenever the Rams (7-7-1) made an offensive push, it was often Fontaine that was breaking up the rush. Blanchet made four saves as the Cougars won their ninth game in their last 10 tries.
“It was the game I was hoping for,” said Cony coach Al Brochu, whose team lost to Mt. Blue 3-1 during the regular season. “We stayed with them and it was back and forth. We just didn’t have the strength in players. We’re building and working on it.”
After Bullen’s goal, Cony put some pressure on in the final minutes. Molly Silsby had a bid in front that was saved before the Cougar defense closed in on her. Arika Brochu had a pair of shots off a corner, but Blanchet kicked them aside.
“I got really nervous,” Fontaine said of the late Cony rally. “If we were going really fast, that’d lead to more mistakes. So we just had to stay calm and not freak out.”
Crandall finished it off in the final seconds by dribbling in on the Cony defense for a shot in front.
“You want to have a game like this,” Harmon said. “It was just a killer game, intensity the whole time. It was awesome.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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