BRUNSWICK — When Brunswick High School field hockey coach Karin Paquin attends a field hockey clinic, she is excited for the future. From kindergarten to middle school, Brunswick players are lining up and learning the skills of the sport.

Thursday’s 7-0 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference loss to talented Mt. Blue displayed what a program that builds from within can attain. Much the same can be said for successful programs at Skowhegan, Messalonskee, Lawrence and Cony.

Paquin sees her program one day attaining those lofty heights, with skills being taught at the youngster levels in Brunswick.

“Two years ago, I came in and we now have a K-2 group, something Mt. Blue has had for years,” Paquin said. “This is their third-graders who have come up and are 10 times ahead in skills. In years to come we will have athletes with those fundamentals coming here. It just wasn’t in practice here before. Just in the past three years, we started a fifth- to eighth-grade program. We have players here that are just now developing those skills, and they are doing great.”

Mt. Blue came out strong early, jumping out to a 5-0 first-half lead behind two goals and two assists from Victoria Newbill, along with solid efforts from Abby Wallace (one goal, two assists), Jordyn Lawrence (one goal) and Jenna Bullen (one goal, one assist).

“We had a lot of speed today and were really good at getting into the circle and attacking,” Newbil said. “We came out with a lot of good intensity, and our goal was to stay consistent.”

“We have had so many chances to score this year, and for us it is just about getting it into the cage,” said Mt. Blue coach Jody Harmon, whose 6-3 Cougars will host Lewiston on Tuesday. “It’s important for us to come out strong and attack the goal.”

Quick Cougars

Newbill spun in front of the Brunswick cage and fired a shot past Dragons netminder Anna Webster just 1:39 into the game. Samantha Ellis assisted on the game-opening goal.

Six minutes later, Lawrence cleaned up a pass from Wallace, and goals by Newbill (assisted by Hannah LeClair) and Wallace (Newbill and Bullen) 1:20 apart made for a 4-0 Cougars lead.

Paquin called a timeout and pointed out some points of focus for her Dragons.

“We really worked on cutting,” said Paquin, who was pleased to see her team compete harder in the second half while holding Mt. Blue to just two goals. “We were not cutting, not working on the give-and-go. We did that better after that, making educated passes. And, they were marking up better, intercepting passes. We work on that in practice, where I am the ball and I have them set up where they should be. We wanted to put that into practice in today’s game.”

Hannah Minns gave the Cougars a 6-0 lead off a Newbill pass, and Wallace picked up an assist on the final goal off the stick of Taylor Hollingdale.

Harmon feels her squad is ready to compete with the powers of Eastern A.

“We’re there with those teams. I expect all good things. We can win it all as long as we keep improving and playing with intensity,” the coach said.

“It’s the four of us that can swing either way, along with Cony,” Newbill said. “Those five teams, it is going to be a really tight battle.”

“Mt. Blue is just as good as Skowhegan, Messalonskee and Lawrence, and this is the level of the play that they are playing at,” added Paquin, whose 1-8 Dragons will visit Hampden Academy on Monday.

Mt. Blue goaltender Whitney Levesque was a spectator as her teammates outshot Brunswick 31-0 and held an 18-0 edge in penalty corners. On the other hand, Webster was busy, turning aside 24 Cougar opportunities.

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