H.S. Field Hockey: Amaral comes up big for Boothbay in win over Winthrop

Winthrop’s Kinli Dibiase and Boothbay’s Kylie Brown struggle for control of the ball during Monday afternoon’s field hockey game in Winthrop.

Winthrop’s Elle Blanchard and Boothbay Harbor’s Hali Goodwin face off around the ball during Monday afternoon’s field hockey game in Winthrop.

WINTHROP — Emily Amaral had faced a penalty stroke only once entering Monday. The Boothbay senior goaltender faced her second in a critical situation Monday afternoon in a key Class C North and MVC field hockey contest against Winthrop.

She stopped Kinli DiBiase with 2:45 remaining in the game to preserve a 1-0 shutout at Kelsey Ann Stoneton Memorial Field. The victory was Boothbay coach Donna Jordan’s 300th varsity win.

Amaral made four saves in the game.

“I was kind of nervous because I only have (faced) one penalty shot in my entire career,” Amaral said. “The day before my first penalty shot we spontaneously started to practice them. I thank coach (Jordan) so much. We have been practicing more and more. I felt like I really stepped up tonight.”

Winthrop coach Jessica Merrill said the missed penalty stroke was just one of many missed chances for her team in the second half.

“It’s just not that one opportunity,” Merrill said. “We had lots of opportunities, but we didn’t do the little things well. We didn’t have our feet going in the right direction. If our feet were going the other way, some of those would have been goals.”

Coming into the Monday showdown, the Ramblers were the No. 1 seed in Class C North and were unbeaten. They are now 10-1-1 on the season. The Seahawks, who entered the game as the No. 3 seed, improve to 10-1 on the year.

Merrill thinks the loss will help them in the long run.

“It’s been a learning process the past few games. I think we have stopped doing what we do well because we are so scared of losing,” Merrill said. “Now that we have lost, now we can play.”

The team is still trying to find chemistry without their second-leading scorer Breonna Feeney.

It was Sydney Meader who broke the scoreless tie with 19:56 remaining in the game when she blasted a shot off a penalty corner as Chloe Arsenault sent the ball into the circle.

The Seahawks dominated penalty corners, as they had 10 and Winthrop only had two on the afternoon.

“They only had two, our defense was amazing tonight,” Meader said. “We had to capitalize on the advantages we had tonight.”

Winthrop kept an eye on Meader all game long, as they had Katie Perkins defending her.

While Amaral made the big stop late in the game, it wouldn’t have been as big if it wasn’t for the play of her counterpart on Winthrop, Aiva Agri, who made three key stops in succession with about 12 minutes remaining. She also made a couple key saves late in the first half.

Agri had seven saves for the game.

“We were playing a lot of defense and if it weren’t for her, our defensive play, we wouldn’t have been in it in the first half,” Merrill said. “We wouldn’t have the opportunity to do what we did in the second half.”

In the first half, both teams were trying to feel each other out as opportunities were few and far between before Boothbay started finding its groove in the final five minutes or so.

“Everyone was tentative,” Jordan said. “Both teams (were), it was so quiet, the fans, it was odd. I think it was a time of everyone feeling each other out. Seeing what adjustments we’ve been making since the last time we’ve played. It was a game of two halves.”

Winthrop won the first meeting 2-0 on Sept. 8.

nfournier@sunjournal.com

Winthrop’s Kerrigan Anuszewski narrowly misses the ball being hit by Boothbay’s Kylie Brown during Monday afternoon’s field hockey game in Winthrop.

Winthrop’s Elle Blanchard and Boothbay Harbor’s Hali Goodwin faceoff around the ball during Monday afternoon’s field hockey game in Winthrop.Winthrop’s Kinli Dibiase controls the ball while Boothbay’s Hali Goodwin struggles to keep up during Monday afternoon’s field hockey game in Winthrop.Boothbay’s Jo Shaw and Winthrop’s Gia Francis keep the pace in pursuit of the ball during Monday afternoon’s field hockey game in Winthrop.Boothbay’s Chloe Arsenault follows behind Winthrop’s Kinli Dibiase as the ball is moved down the field during Monday afternoon’s field hockey game in Winthrop.