Lisbon goalie Maria Levesque makes a kick save on one of several point blank shots by Saint Dominc Academy’s Julianne Cook during the second half of Thursday’s game in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
AUBURN – For the St. Dominic Academy field hockey team, the goal was to have fun in the final game of the season.
The Saints got the fun started early with three first quarter goals, the Saints defeated the Lisbon Greyhounds 4-0.
“We were really excited. We really wanted to put everything we had in our seniors’ last (game).” Saints senior Anna Cote said. “It’s my last (game) with my friends, so we just wanted to have fun.”
Cote had two goals, both in the first quarter.
For Lisbon coach Julie Petrie, Thursday’s showing was something to build off.
“We had a slow start in the first quarter and it was a wakeup call. I was very happy how we played in the second half,” Petrie said. “You take away the first quarter it was pretty evenly matched. Still, we are young and we still have a lot to learn and we are only going to get better.”
Cote opened the scoring nine minutes into the game with Abbie Mitchell assisting on the goal. Cote also scored at the end of the half off a penalty corner.
Cote will be playing at Bates College next season.
Lisbon goalie Maria Levesque blocks a point blank shot by Saint Dominc Academy’s Abbie Mitchell during the second half of Thursday’s game in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Sandwiched in between Cote’s goals was Abbie Mitchell’s score, which came with just under four minutes remaining in the quarter.
St. Dom’s coach Abigail Bowie wanted to mix the lineups every quarter and get a look at some younger players.
“It was always the plan. I was going to do different lineups today,” Bowie said. “(The players) did not know that but my assistant (coach) did. That’s the thing, we are coming off a shorter season and you have to kind of look at next year to see what’s going to work and what’s not. Trying to get that lead was a good way for us to experiment a bit.”
Bowie was impressed with freshmen defender Georgie Davidson along with Lauren Fletcher and Gabby Roman.
Petrie didn’t mess with her lineups that much but did change formations in the second half. Lisbon’s best success was in the fourth quarter, when it had three penalty corners and two of its four shots for the game. All four attempts went wide of the cage.
“It was fun, it was exciting, we had some opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize,” Petrie said. “I felt like we didn’t have the opportunities in the first quarter that we did in the second half. Like I said, we are young, we didn’t score a lot of goals this year.”
Petrie was pleased with goalie Maria Levesque who made 26 saves, while Saints goalie Sydney Stebbins didn’t have to make any saves.
Saint Dominic Academy’s Julianne Cook, center, tries to get a shot off before Lisbon’s Megan Libby can sweep it to the sidelines during the second half of Thursday’s field hockey game in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
In the fourth quarter, Isabella Pelletier capped the scoring off for the Saints.
The final postgame speech of season was a simple one for Bowie.
“I (said) I hope they had fun this season despite everything,” Bowie said. “I told them I was super proud of them to be able to face what they faced this season; they are a resilient group of girls. I am always happy to coach them.”
Lisbon goalie Maria Levesque makes a kick save on one of several point blank shots by Saint Dominc Academy’s Julianne Cook during the second half of Thursday’s game in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
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