AUBURN — Lewiston field hockey coach Chelsea Fournier called a timeout with the season on the line and about eight minutes remaining in regulation.
She reminded her team that not only was a win over rival Edward Little on the line, but also, potentially, a playoff berth.
Emma Begin, center, of Lewiston High School celebrates her double-overtime goal against Edward Little High School in Auburn on Tuesday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
The Blue Devils responded to Fournier’s plea, and Emma Begin played the hero, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 double-overtime victory over the Red Eddies at Sherwood Heights Elementary School on Tuesday.
“I think we realized it in the first overtime that it was really getting down to the wire and we really needed to something if we wanted it,” Begin said.
With less than four minutes remaining in the second overtime, Abigail Chartier found Begin through the humanity in the crease and Begin put home the game’s only goal.
“Our team was really struggling, we really wanted this,” Begin said. “(The ball) got shot to Abby, and Abby knew I was there because we play really well together. She sent it and it was just a good shot.”
Fournier said the Lewiston players knew about the playoff implications before the game but needed to hear it out loud in that moment.
“They do better when they have a goal in mind,” Fournier said. “Sometimes it can hurt a team or help a team. They knew they had to go out as it was the EL game, it’s a rivalry game, it’s always a good game, the pressure is always there, but we needed to find another source of motivation.
“I wasn’t going to use that (playoff) card until I had to.”
With the win, Lewiston (4-9-1) moves into ninth place in the Class A North Heal point standings. If the standings hold up, the Blue Devils will play a preliminary game.
Edward Little (2-11-1), meanwhile, will miss the postseason.
The effort was there for the Red Eddies on Tuesday, they just couldn’t get the ball in the cage.
“Honestly, they worked really hard. (Goalie) Elise (Syphers) was working extremely hard in the cage,” Edward Little coach Kim Joler said. “I think our takeaway is, honestly, we need to keep on working. We got next season; we are going to keep on working. We had that drive and we had that motivation, to push forward. We decided to keep those seven players on the field (for the seven-on-seven overtimes). They were in it to win and they tried.”
Prior to Fournier’s timeout, the Red Eddies controlled the play in the second half. Then, tide started to turn in favor of the Blue Devils.
Chartier was awarded a penalty stroke with 6:51 remaining in regulation. She tried to beat Syphers by lifting the shot into the upper left corner of the cage, but the ball sailed over the cage.
Both teams had chances in the final minutes of regulation. The Red Eddies had six penalty corners in the second half to Lewiston’s three.
The Blue Devils’ third corner came at the end of regulation. Lewiston tried to jam the ball past Syphers but couldn’t find the back of the cage. Then Blue Devils were then awarded another penalty stroke.
Cecilia Miller took the shot for Lewiston. Syphers, who up to that point had only had to make two saves, knocked down Miller’s shoulder-height shot with her hands to send the game into overtime.
“We have a solid team of people who could take a stroke at any given day, and both (Chartier and Miller) are on that team of people,” Fournier said. “(Syphers) is good with her hands, she brings both hands where they need to go. That’s the first tell that goalie knows what they are doing. So, in order to change that up a little bit, we said (as coaches) don’t always shoot in the air, she’s going to look for it, try to move her feet. We know moving in all that gear can be hard sometimes.”
Edward Little (2-11-1) had a couple of chances in the first overtime to end, but put a couple shots wide of Lewiston’s cage.
“We were really both on the same playing field,” Joler said. “It’s a hard situation, some passes don’t always (go) where you want to or some shots on goal don’t go where you think they need to be.”
Lewiston was awarded a penalty corner with 30 seconds remaining in the first overtime but couldn’t put the ball home during the mad scramble around the cage.
The Blue Devils had the only penalty corner of the second overtime and led to Begin’s game-winner.
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