The common theme among area field hockey coaches’ sentiments heading into the playoffs is seeing opponents they didn’t face in the regular season.
The prelims/play-in games begin Oct. 21 and Oct. 22, while quarterfinal games are scheduled to be played on Oct. 25 or Oct. 26.
CLASS A
Breaking news, Skowhegan is the No. 1 seed in Class A North. The River Hawks earned the top spot for the fifth straight playoffs and will host No. 8 Camden Hills in the quarterfinals.
The winner gets the winner of No. 4 Mt. Ararat and No. 5 Brunswick in the regional semifinals.
In the other half of the bracket, Oxford Hills earned the No. 2 seed and will host No. 7 Brewer. The teams didn’t meet in the regular season.
Oxford Hills coach Cindy Goddard knows the Witches have a few standout players.
“We saw Brewer in postseason play last year and we are quite familiar with Jordin Williams and Allie Flagg,” Goddard said. “That’s their key players, and I think we are just excited (to play).
The Vikings defeated the Witches 2-0 in the quarterfinals last year.
After scoring, Oxford Hills’ Carlee Cash, right, deposits the ball at midfield as teammate Miah Gallan congratulates her during a game against Messalonskee at Gouin Athletic Complex in Paris on Oct. 10. Brewster Burns photo
No. 3 Messalonskee takes on No. 6 Bangor in the final quarterfinal matchup in Class A North. The winner will face either Oxford Hills or Brewer.
Down in the South, the defending Class A champions, the Cheverus Stags, are the top seed and will face the winner of the prelim game between No. 8 Falmouth and No. 9 Marshwood in the quarterfinals.
Cheverus will meet Oxford Hills in an exhibition game Friday to get ready for the playoffs.
“We are picking up a scrimmage with Cheverus, which is pretty exciting because everybody in the state knows they are the top in the state,” Goddard said.
The other top seeds in A South include No. 2 Biddeford, No. 3 Scarborough and No. 4 Noble.
CLASS B
No. 8 Gray-New Gloucester/North Yarmouth Academy hosts No. 9 Morse in a Class B South prelim game Friday for the right to face No. 1 York in the quarterfinals.
The defending Class B state champion, Leavitt, enters the playoffs as the No. 4 seed and will battle No. 5 Yarmouth in the quarterfinals.
The Hornets are one of the two Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference teams to qualify for the playoffs in B South; Morse is the other team. The remaining seven teams are from the Western Maine Conference.
Leavitt coach Wanda Ward-McLean understands the WMC is deep.
“We didn’t see Yarmouth at all, but they are always pretty solid down there,” Ward-McLean said. “They have taken turns beating each other this year, other than York (13-1). But Freeport beat York.”
No. 2 Cape Elizabeth hosts No. 7 Fryeburg Academy in the quarterfinals. Freeport is the No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 Lake Region. The winners of those games will face each other in the regional semifinals.
Lawrence is the top seed in the North, followed by Belfast, Nokomis and Gardiner to round out the top four seeds.
CLASS C
The defending Class C champion Winthrop Ramblers are the top seed in the South. They face No. 9 Telstar, which was the winner of a play-in game against No. 8 Traip Academy to give the Rebels their first victory of the season.
No. 4 Hall-Dale hosts No. 5 Oak Hill in a quarterfinal game. The winner gets the winner of the game between Winthrop and Telstar.
Winthrop’s Madeline Wagner, middle, watches her shot bounce off the stick of Spruce Mountain’s Adelle Pease, left, during the first half of their field hockey game in Winthrop on Sept. 21. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
No. 2 Lisbon hosts No. 7 Boothbay in another quarterfinal contest.
Lisbon is coming into the playoffs on a four-game winning streak and hopes for another playoff run. Last season, the Greyhounds lost in the regional final to Winthrop.
“Knowing that putting things together at the end, where we want to play our best field hockey, motivated (the players) last year,” Lisbon coach Julie Petrie said. “We only lost one senior last year, (which) motivated (this year’s) senior class to try to get back where we were last year.”
The Greyhounds were the No. 6 seed last year and had an upset win over St. Dom’s in the regional semifinals.
The two teams can potentially meet again in the semifinals, since the Saints are the No. 3 seed this season after ending the season 11-0 under first-year coach Karli-An Holt and will host No. 6 Maranacook in the quarterfinals. St. Dom’s is one of four teams that enter the playoffs undefeated. The other three are Cheverus, Skowhegan and Lawrence.
“We weren’t expecting to go undefeated, per se,” Holt said. “We were trying to take it a game at a time, and we are excited that’s where it led us.”
Class C South has six teams from the Mountain Valley Conference. St. Dom’s of the WMC and Maranacook of the KVAC primarily play a Class B schedule in the regular season.
They are in Class C because of the schools’ student enrollments.
“That’s a bit daunting, not knowing what to really expect,” Holt said. “Records in the regular season, considering we don’t play each other that much until the postseason, I don’t feel hold that much weight because I don’t know the caliber of teams Maranacook has been playing.”
The MVC has six teams that play in Class C North and conference member Dirigo holds the top seed. The Cougars will host No. 8 Piscataquis of the Penobscot Valley Conference in a regional quarterfinal.
Class C North includes teams from the PVC, MVC and the KVAC.
“I am a little jealous looking at the South because we know all those teams,” Dirigo coach Gretchen Curtis said. “It’s the little of the unknown because we really don’t see those (PVC and KVAC) teams. We try to research the best we can.”
No. 4 Spruce Mountain hosts No. 5 Foxcroft Academy of the PVC, and the winner will take on either Dirigo or Piscataquis.
No. 2 Maine Central Insitute battles No. 7 Mount View, while No. 3 Dexter hosts No. 6 Orono. The winners face each other in the regional semifinals.
MCI lost in the Class C state championship game to Winthrop last year. They are one of the teams to watch out for again this season.
“Spruce (Mountain) and MCI,” Curtis said. “We are going to do the best we can and see (where things) fall.”
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