WATERBORO – Lisa Truesdale simply smiled and said, “Oh, my God.”

But it wasn’t an expression of disbelief at anything her Marshwood High field hockey team had done, simply a comment on the upside-down Western Class A playoffs.

Marshwood became the fourth lower seed to win on the road in three days, upending No. 4 Massabesic 3-0 Thursday in the quarterfinals.

As a result, the four top seeds are gone, leaving the fifth-ranked Hawks, who earned a tournament berth for the first time since 1994 (other than the two years the Maine Principals’ Association allowed all teams to play in the tournament), as Western Class A’s highest remaining seed.

Marshwood (12-3) will host eighth-ranked Windham at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the regional semifinals. Windham stunned No.1 Scarborough 1-0 on Wednesday.

The Hawks, who have won six straight games, got two goals in the first half and then relied on a stifling defense that turned back every Mustang rush.

“They have so much heart and it shows,” said Truesdale, the Marshwood coach. “We’ve worked for this our whole season All season we took it one game at a time, we didn’t look ahead, we didn’t look back.

“And I’ll tell you, today they played with so much poise, passion and heart. True team effort.”

Marshwood had beaten Massabesic 2-1 eight days earlier and this one followed a similar pattern, with Marshwood gaining a 2-0 lead in the first half.

The Hawks got their first goal 10 minutes, 29 seconds into the game. Samantha Crosman began the play by crossing the ball from the 25 into the lower right of the circle. Hailey Bruno-Moulton beat a defender to it and whacked the ball across to Karissa Boesch, who was uncovered 15 feet in front. She one-timed the pass through the pads of goalie Courtney Picone and it was suddenly 1-0.

The Hawks kept pressing but Massabesic’s Kaelyn Kuni made a defensive save behind Picone.

But with six minutes left in the half, the Hawks struck again. This time Emily Osborne carried the ball in on the right and crossed to Ashley Hickey, again uncovered 15 feet in front. Her shot made it inside the left post and it was 2-0.

Boesch and Hickey are both sophomores. Lindsey Poirier, who scored Marshwood’s third goal with 4:28 remaining in the second half, is a freshman.

“They were certainly focused,” said Truesdale, who carries eight sophomores and two freshmen. “It’s like we always say, ‘Always anticipate, always focus.’“

Once ahead, the Hawks made it really tough on Massabesic to get many quality scoring chances. Senior Natalia Bachelder, normally a midfielder, dropped back to lead the defense in front of goalie Jacquelyn Tworkowski.

“This is absolutely amazing to know that I’m part of a program that started way at the bottom and we brought it way to the top,” said Bachelder, adding that the Hawks drew upon the three previous tournament upsets. “We thought about who was left and figured we had a pretty good chance if we just take it one game at a time.”

Especially if the Hawks continue to play like they did Thursday.

“They played tight layers and packed every single kid inside the 25,” said Massabesic Coach Michele Martin-Moore. “So that makes it difficult to score.

“Once you get a lead, you can do that.”

And while the loss was disappointing, it was another strong season for the Mustangs, who finished 11-4.

“We knew what we had to do,” said Martin-Moore, who had six sophomores on her roster. “Marshwood was just up to the task. They were the better team today.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at: mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH

 

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