BIDDEFORD – The Cheverus field hockey team lost eight players to graduation from a squad that reached the state final last fall. But after a 6-2 win over Biddeford on Saturday morning, it doesn’t look like the Stags (4-0) have lost their championship form.

Cheverus outshot Biddeford by a two-to-one margin and scored early and often, building a 4-0 lead midway through the first half before Biddeford got on the board. The Stags kept the pressure on and were rewarded with many penalty corners.

Despite an offseason rule change that requires players to take the ball outside of the scoring area before shooting off a penalty corner, the Stags scored their first three goals off those plays.

“I thought corners this year would be a little more difficult because of that rule change. I’m proud of our girls, they’re reading the game and making decisions on there own rather than having me call plays,” said Cheverus Coach Amy McMullin.

Senior Sarah LaQuerre got the scoring started for the Stags when she redirected a bounding ball from junior Brooke Flaherty into the net. A few minutes later, off another corner, junior Emily Rodrigue played give-and-go with LaQuerre and sent a shot into the goal from 10 yards out.

Sophomore Julia Lambert then scored when she put back a rebound from a LaQuerre shot. The next goal had those two linking up again, but it was LaQuerre cleaning up a rebound of a Lambert shot.

Biddeford climbed back into the game when it scored on both sides of the half. Freshman Mallory Mourmouras made it 4-1 right before halftime when she scored from the left side. Early in the second half, freshman Sophany Srey gathered a pass from Mourmouras and beat the defense with a quick shot.

Biddeford Coach Leslie Mourmouras attributed her team’s slow start to youth and inexperience.

“I think in the second half we started to play our positions better,” said Mourmouras. “I have 15 freshmen and only three returning varsity players from last year, so were very inexperienced.”

Cheverus ended any thoughts of a comeback with goals from Lambert and Rodrigue.

“We had a couple of defensive breakdowns which shouldn’t have happened,” McMullin said. “We’re pushing up so hard offensively that were not recovering back quick enough. That’s where they got those two goals and they easily could have had more.”