PORTLAND – Cheverus field hockey coach Amy McMullin isn’t afraid to replace a player who isn’t going as hard as possible on every play.

“Our mindset is play as hard as we possibly can during every second of every game, and if someone on the field isn’t doing that, we have plenty of players who are willing to do it,” McMullin said.

Cheverus used an aggressive and balanced offense to remain undefeated Friday with a 5-0 victory against Portland at Shea Field.

Sarah LaQuerre led the Stags (7-0) with two goals and two assists.

“Sarah is key,” McMullin said. “We hate to give her the ball too much because we don’t want to be a one-man team, but she does a really great job of finding her teammates and she’s very unselfish.

“I think that’s why she’s so effective, and ultimately our team benefits.”

Cheverus grabbed a 1-0 lead at 16:02 when LaQuerre took a pass from Alex Logan and slipped it past Portland goalkeeper Rachel Waterhouse.

Less than three minutes later, Ali Saxton gave Cheverus a 2-0 lead with 13:28 remaining.

Portland came out of halftime with a more aggressive approach on offense and controlled the tempo, almost scoring on Stags goalie Libby DesRuisseaux less than two minutes into the half.

But Cheverus ended the surge by scoring again when Logan gathered a rebound off Waterhouse’s pads and buried it to make it 3-0 with 21:27 to play.

Emily Roderigue scored Cheverus’ fourth goal from LaQuerre at 15:48, and LaQuerre scored her second goal of the game, unassisted after dribbling in from the right side, with 6:35 remaining,

Although LaQuerre is a huge part of the Stags’ offense, she said if it wasn’t for the consistent play of her teammates, they would be having a tough year.

“This is definitely a rebuilding year. We lost a lot of good players, but coming into this season it was just a matter of finding out what we could do and how we were going to do it.” she said. “The girls on this team have proven they can get it done and I’m very proud of what we’ve done so far.”

The Stags’ have implemented more efficient field spacing, and stress solid passes and ball movement to keep the tempo matched with their intense offensive mindset.

“Our mentality started last year in the playoffs: keep the ball on our offensive 50. Everyone pushes up because we don’t want those gaps in there, and we always play triangles to keep it on that end,” LaQuerre said.

“We do a good job staying balanced and filling in positions, like when Staci Swallow would go up for me and I would slide back. There’s always that support system.”

McMullin, who played field hockey at Franklin Pierce University, said her team is doing a better job of actually visualizing and seeing the open player after struggling to find passes earlier in the season.

Cheverus will take on a fast Marshwood team on Tuesday at home.

Portland will have a home game Monday against Thornton Academy.