When she skated against middle school boys, she had to beware of players trying to apply an extra hard check.

On Saturday, Martina St. Angelo will be playing against other girls, but she will be on full alert.

There will be Lewiston players seemingly everywhere. St. Angelo and her Falmouth teammates need to contain them.

Lewiston (19-0-1) plays Falmouth (16-4) for the girls’ hockey state championship at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Colisee in Lewiston.

Both teams are the top seed out of their region. Lewiston won the inaugural state girls’ title in 2009. Since then, the Blue Devils have returned to the championship game twice, losing to Cheverus (2010) and Scarborough (2014).

Now Lewiston is trying to follow the skate marks of those two teams and finish unbeaten.

“Lewiston has a lot of strength and talent,” St. Angelo said. She knows, being teammates with some of the Blue Devils on the Portland Junior Pirates.

Falmouth has already faced this juggernaut Lewiston team, losing 4-0 a month ago.

“I think we’ve improved throughout the season,” St. Angelo said.

St. Angelo, a junior, was in the eighth grade when Falmouth made its one appearance in the state title game, in 2012 (losing to Greely). But her sister Gabby was a forward on that Yachtsmen team.

Back then, Martina St. Angelo was playing for two teams – the Falmouth Middle School boys and girls teams.

“It was an experience. I wanted to see what the difference was,” said St. Angelo, who grew up playing on girls-only teams.

“A lot more physicality. I liked that aspect.”

And she received her share of checks.

“There are two types of boy players,” she said. “They either went after the girls or they didn’t (hit) the girls. You just had to watch out for the ones that went after the girls.”

St. Angelo likes the physical play, “but you can’t play (against boys) in high school hockey, unless you want to get hurt.”

Still, girls’ hockey is not exactly a stroll on ice skates.

“There is no checking but you have to be really aggressive,” St. Angelo said. “Yeah, there are some hits. You just have to play the puck, then the body.”

She and the rest of the Yachtsmen will have to do that a lot Saturday. Lewiston features the best scoring punch in the state, with forwards Erica Lemieux, Corinne Laberge and Allison Frechette capable of breaking away at any time.

“Offensively, they cause match-up problems for anyone in the state,” said Falmouth Coach Rob Carrier.

Then there is freshman defenseman Lauren DeBlois, who likely has the most powerful slap shot anyone will see Saturday. She is always a threat.

Shutting down Lewiston means a team effort. Ally Hurdman will be in goal. St. Angelo will pair with fellow tri-captain Meg Pierce on one defensive line; tri-captain Alta Farrell and Caroline Proctor on the other. The forwards will be heavily involved, keyed by centers Evie Clement and Devon Sarazin.

“The basic game plan – we don’t want to get too complicated – is limit their good scoring chances and clear the front of the net for rebounds,” Carrier said. “Of course, if it was just that easy, everyone else would have done it.”

One of the important one-on-one battles will be St. Angelo keeping Lewiston’s forwards skating free near the crease.

“She’s physically strong,” Carrier said. “She’s not going to get pushed over. She matches up really well in front of the net.”

When Falmouth last played Lewiston last month, it was scoreless, until the Blue Devils scored two goals apiece in the second and third periods.

“It’s hard to tell how far we’ve come since we’ve played Lewiston,” St. Angelo said. “But we’ll see.”