SCARBOROUGH – It was a battle between two powers of Western Class A field hockey on Oct. 4, as the Scarborough Red Storm (10-1) looked to rebound from their first loss of the season against rising star Westbrook (8-2). And although the Blazes battled back against a 2-0 deficit to cut the Scarborough lead to 2-1 just before the half, it was the Red Storm who emerged triumphant, holding Westbrook at bay for the second 30 minutes of play to preserve their slim margin.

“This was a huge game for us,” said Scarborough Head Coach Kerry Mariello, “especially since we’ve just come back from a loss. It’s one of those games where you really want to see what kind of character a team has, and how much they can rebound off something like that. It was a big blow to us on Saturday, and they came out knowing how big this game was, and they did the right thing.”

The Storm got out to a running start, dominating play initially with their potent offense and pinning the Blazes in the Westbrook half of the field. A little over 10 minutes in, the Scarborough attack paid off when senior midfielder Kristen Felt slapped a hard shot from the right side of the field towards the circle. Standing just in front of the net was junior midfielder Lindsay Dobecki, who deftly slapped the ball into the upper right corner for the 1-0 lead.

“I think my kids came in a little scared,” said Westbrook Head Coach Beth Murphy. “A lot of these kids have never been put in this situation before. I lost quite a few kids last year, and maybe had four or five starters back, so most of these kids have never really played in this intense an environment before.”

Seven minutes later, at exactly 13:00 left, Dobecki hit a penalty corner in from the left side of the Westbrook net. Dobecki’s aim was perfect, and the ball bounced out to the waiting Stephanie Felt at the top of the circle. Felt instantly wound up and struck a lancing shot past Westbrook goalie Maryssa Arsenault. Advantage: Red Storm – 2-0.

“On the corner, I didn’t see anyone open, so I just took the shot,” Felt said. “It felt great, because we were coming back from a loss and going up like that really helped to get our momentum back.”

Although Scarborough appeared to be firmly in control, the second goal appeared almost to settle the Blue Blazes, who began to make steady progress attacking the Red Storm defense. Westbrook capitalized with 1:54 left in the half, when senior forward Sarah Howard hit a penalty corner directly to senior forward Olivia Marsden, who went down to one knee and slapped a powerful shot into the Scarborough net, trimming the lead to 2-1. The Blazes continued to attack for the remainder of the half, outshooting the Storm 4-2.

“We’ve been stressing to do what works for us,” Mariello said. “We need to get back to that. A lot of times teams show us different styles, and we kind of revert to bad habits. But in the second we did a lot more passing and just controlled the game a bit more.”

Despite surrendering Marsden’s goal, the Storm played with confidence after the break. However, the Blazes continued to get opportunities to tie things up. None better came than at 20:54, when a loose a loose ball in front of the Scarborough net was barely kicked out by junior goalie Rebecca Mitchell. The Blazes threatened again at 10:50 left, when senior forward Melissa Pettis blasted out of midfield to hit a beautiful crossing pass to Marsden, whose own shot just missed the Storm net to the right. With a little over 8:00 remaining, Murphy called a timeout to attempt to rally her troops.

“I said there are eight minutes to go guys, there’s no reason you can’t score a goal or maybe two and try to get ahead of them,” Murphy said. “We’re a good team. I have just got to get them to believe that they can do this. We went from a non-playoff birth last year to being in the top four this year. I am trying to get these kids to realize that they are good, and they can beat this team.”

The Blazes redoubled their efforts when they retook the field, but it was all for naught. The stringy Scarborough defense held on to advantage, despite being once again outshot, this time 7-3.

“All these games right at the end are huge,” Mariello said. “Because, for one, they’re all against big teams, and wins mean home field in the playoffs. That’s a huge advantage when it comes to the end.”

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