The last time St. Dominic Academy and North Yarmouth Academy met in field hockey, the Saints let slip a 3-1 lead, as the Panthers scored at the buzzer to secure a 3-3 tie.
Monday’s rematch had a similar 3-1 score in favor of the Saints, but this time they finished the job in a 7-1 WMC victory.
The Saints (7-2-1) got their offense going from the start, but not before being folied by the goal post. Hannah Trottier-Braun rang the right post two minutes in, but then found the back of the goal 18 seconds later. She then did the same thing a little more than five minutes later to make it a quick 2-0 lead.
“We really knew that we had to get a couple in in the first half, bring the score up, and then just play defensively as a team,” Trottier-Braun said.
The St. Dom’s defense played well all game, but succumbed to a Panthers (5-3-2) penalty corner 12 minutes in. Katie Larsen picked up the goal for NYA.
Any momentum the Panthers took from cutting the deficit to one was gone less than one minute later when Caroline Johnson put a home a rebound for the Saints. NYA goalie Eliza Tod made a pair of saves in a scrum in front of the goal, but couldn’t stop Johnson’s persistence.
That gave the Saints a familiar 3-1 lead against NYA, so at halftime the talk was to not allow a familiar ending to happen.
“We know every team turns up the intensity at the halftime,” Trottier-Braun said. “We knew they were going to bring it because they were down by two, and we knew we had to bring it just as much.”
St. Dom’s scored on a penalty corner of its own seven minutes into the second half. Callie Samson inserted the ball, and Trottier-Braun fed Kylie Leavitt for a 4-1 lead.
“It’s huge,” Saints coach Brian Kay said. “Usually it’s three goals, if you’re up 3-0 or whatever. But the fourth goal, it was huge. You got a three-goal lead, something about it in field hockey, the other team loses all their momentum.”
The Panthers called a timeout a few minutes later, but another comeback was not in the cards.
“I actually thought we were playing pretty well, but they were quicker to the ball,” NYA coach Wendy Polstein said. “And we struggle with the fact that we’re a really young team. I have four eighth-graders and six ninth-graders out there. It’s just a huge difference in the level of play that we’re able to obtain for a long period of time.”
The Saints sustained their offensive pressure all the way to the end of Monday’s contest. Trottier-Braun flashed her skill with a hat-trick goal from the right side. Johnson completed a hat trick of her own with the final two goals of the game. Trottier-Braun and Paige Cote teamed up to assist on the first one, and Samson made the pass on the latter.
“We had a lot of good communication and passing,” Trottier-Braun said. “This time we just really were spot on the entire game.”
Trottier-Braun was the spark for a well-rounded Saints attack, finishing with three goals and two assists.
“She’s big. She’s big in every game. It’s just a matter of getting the ball to her,” Kay said. “All four of the forwards can score goals. Caroline Johnson, same way, on the post. They’re really starting to connect as a team.”
At the other end of the field, Kay said the defensive game plan was to shut down Larsen and Amber Rose for the Panthers. Save for Larsen’s penalty corner tally, the Saints did just that, holding NYA to just three shots on goal. St. Dom’s goalie Abby Slonina made two saves.
“I think when we could solve and get down there on their defense we just didn’t quite get the shot off,” said Polstein, whose team had some promising-looking counter attacks fizzle out in the circle in the first half.
The Saints have now won five games in a row to jump into second place in the Class C South standings.
“We got some pretty good momentum going right now, as far as the team,” Kay said. “We got a big one Wednesday with Poland.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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