YARMOUTH — Second-seeded Yarmouth made the most of its home-field advantage Tuesday, rolling to a 3-0 win over seventh-ranked Telstar in a Western Class C field hockey quarterfinal.

“We had to come out and play our game on turf, knowing we had a grass team coming to play us, and we did a good job of that,” Yarmouth Coach Mandy Lewis said. “We really focused on quick passes and moving the ball up the field, and playing better as a team.”

Yarmouth (14-1), in the semifinals for a second straight season, will be home next Tuesday against No. 6 Dirigo or No. 3 Lisbon, who play Saturday.

“Not making excuses, but anybody who knows field hockey knows (the game) is totally different on turf,” Telstar Coach Gail Wight said. “My team’s not as fast as Yarmouth is and that makes a difference. (Yarmouth) knows how to move, where to pass and how to pick the ball up. They know how to pick the passes up and keep the ball moving.”

The Clippers also know how to pressure.

“We try to communicate well, make sure our passes work and just get open for each other,” said Abby McDowell, who had a goal and an assist. “It helps when we just spread out as a team and pass the ball around.”

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Telstar plays in the Mountain Valley Conference, where each team plays on natural grass.

“We play 14 games on grass,” Wight said. “We practice on grass. Our league is strictly a grass league.”

Yarmouth took control from the start.

After applying nearly constant pressure, the Clippers opened the scoring after less than eight minutes when Kallie Hutchinson put in a hard shot from 10 yards following their second penalty corner of the game.

“It was on a corner, and (Breanna Morrill) just passed it to me and I passed it on to Kallie, and she took her shot,” McDowell said. “It was pretty simple and it was good.”

With less than four minutes left in the half, McDowell put in a rebound following a kick save by Meg Glover.

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“(Telstar) certainly kept the ball out of the net for quite a bit of time,” Lewis said. “We just tried to be persistent. Their goalie did a nice job of stopping the initial shots so we just tried to pick up the rebounds.”

During the first half, the Clippers held a 10-0 edge in shots and the Rebels (7-9) got no closer than the 20-yard line.

Tori Messina made two saves to post her 12th shutout of the season.

With less than 12 minutes left, Morrill turned a feed from Hutchinson into a goal off a penalty corner.

For the game, Yarmouth held a 17-4 edge in shots.

Glover made nine saves for the Rebels.


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