SKOWHEGAN — The Skowhegan field hockey team is back on the winning track.
A well-rounded offensive attack led Skowhegan, the No. 1-ranked team in Class A North, to a 4-0 victory over Mt. Blue on Saturday morning. The River Hawks (6-1) are now 2-0 since falling 2-1 to Messalonskee on Monday in Oakland; their first in a regular-season game since 2017.
Four different players — Charlotte Haynie, Lucia Siren, Ellie Quinn and Grace Mayo — tallied goals for Skowhegan. Laney LeBlanc and Layla Conway each had two assists, while Haynie, Sophie Noyes and Dasia Alberico each added assists for the River Hawks. Skowhegan has outscored opponents by an 8-0 span the last two games, which includes a 4-0 win over Camden Hills on Thursday.
“That was a very good Mt. Blue team,” said LeBlanc, a senior captain. “We came into the game and knew we had to work every quarter. I think we worked as a unit and that really, really helped.”
LeBlanc said the game was a changeup from the Messalonskee contest, which was tied 1-1 before the Eagles scored in the fourth quarter for the eventual win.
“After the Messalonskee game, we knew the next practice, we had to come the fields bringing a positive attitude,” LeBlanc said. “We learned a lot from the Messalonskee game, like every team that comes out to play us is playing like it’s a state (championship) game. They come out hard, they come out strong.”
“At Messo the other day, we played as individuals, we didn’t play as a team,” added Conway, a senior captain. “Obviously, it didn’t work out for us. But people lose, it’s okay. The sun still came up the next day. But we took that as a learning experience and definitely grew as a team from that. I think great teams have to lose every once in a while and learn from it.”
Both the River Hawks and Cougars (5-1) battled for position in the midfield throughout the first quarter, with neither team gaining much ground on the other. But Skowhegan broke open the scoring in the second quarter when Haynie, a freshman, found the ball in a scrum in front of the cage and knocked the ball in for a 1-0 lead. The River Hawks lifted their lead to 2-0 just minutes later, when Siren, a junior, knocked a shot into the cage from about 15 yards out.
Quinn added her goal in the third quarter, and Mayo knocked in her shot in front of the cage in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.
Mt. Blue’s Summer Sawyer takes a penalty corner in their game Saturday against Skowhegan. Annie Chadwick photo
“Having new people score is always a great opportunity for the team,” LeBlanc said. “I feel like we were very hungry around the cage, which is really helpful, and everyone was there for the rebounds, which was amazing.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of this group, what they did today,” Skowhegan head coach Paula Doughty said. “I think we played more like a team today than we ever have. … (Friday), we just worked on movement, motion and space, and they did it. I’m very happy with that.”
It was the first loss of the season for the Cougars, who have already improved their win total from last year’s 4-10 record and have shown improvement in each game under new head coach Julie Lajoie. Mt. Blue had allowed just two goals in its first five games before taking on Skowhegan on Saturday.
“(Mt. Blue) is a wonderful team,” Doughty said. “They’re very quick. They’re very well coached. Their passes were right on.”
“I’m really pleased with this team, they have a high level of fitness and a lot of athleticism,” Lajoie said. “I still think we’re working on our game IQ. I think we’re fundamentally sound, it’s just really more of the game IQ. And even from this game, there’s still some things we can take and encapsulate and turn into our strengths, once we conquer those things we need work on.
“We also have a new coaching staff, we have a lot of new players who didn’t play varsity last year,” Lajoie continued. “We have to keep (impressing upon the players) this is a fresh slate, a fresh team, whole new lineups and everything. They’re embracing it pretty well.”
The game proved an emotional one for Lajoie, who has coached many of the Skowhegan players at the club level.
“This is hard, I coached all of these kids (previously),” Lajoie said. “I know more of the Skowhegan kids than almost my own kids, really. It’s tough, it was a hard game for me. I live here (in Skowhegan), I live like a mile away. It’s a tough one for me, very emotional in many ways.”
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