SACO – Caterina Riitano gathered her Bonny Eagle High field hockey team together and told her players to forget about what just happened, to keep their heads in the game.

Moments earlier, Thornton Academy had scored a tying goal with 27 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime.

“We didn’t come this far to let them win it,” she said. “Play with your heart.”

Soon, the Scots were celebrating.

Nicole DeMidio scored 5:29 into sudden-death overtime to lift the seventh-ranked Scots to their second upset of the playoffs, 2-1 over the third-seeded Trojans in a Western Class A semifinal.

Bonny Eagle (11-5) will play fourth-ranked Cheverus in the regional final at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Scarborough High. It will be the Scots’ first appearance in a final since 2005. The Stags upset defending state champ Scarborough in the other semifinal.

“We played our hearts out,” said Ashley Roux, who broke up numerous Thornton chances. “We practice hard every day and you tend to play like you practice. We showed we want it. We showed all our hard work is paying off.”

The Scots were outplayed for much of the first half but gained momentum with a couple late penalty corners — narrowly missing a goal when a shot went just wide — and carried that to the second half.

On the last of three consecutive corners, Chelsea Yates gave Bonny Eagle a 1-0 lead.

It stayed that way until Thornton (11-4-1), bottled up by Bonny Eagle’s midfielders much of the second half, strung together three corners in the final two minutes. The last one led to the tying goal.

Although the Scots successfully defended the corner, Morgan Ouellette-Foss of the Trojans intercepted the clear just outside the circle. She dribbled in and unleashed a hard drive that was deflected up into the goal with 27 seconds remaining.

“We all wanted it, we all were trying our hardest,” said Katrina Thibodeau of Thornton. “We really stepped it up and didn’t give up. It just so happens, in overtime, anything can happen.”

Peyton Dostie of the Scots had a breakaway, but the ball hopped over her stick as she was shooting and goalie Abbey Siulinski (eight saves) kicked it away. Ouellette-Foss had two great chances, the first turned back by goalie Rebecca Coney (nine saves), the second going wide.

Then a second Dostie breakaway led to a corner. Nicole Hurley inserted the ball from the left of the goal to Dostie. With Mary Brown of Thornton racing out to her, Dostie passed to DeMidio on the left. Her low shot found the corner.

“It was supposed to go to Peyton, and in,” said DeMidio. “But the flyer on their team is really fast, so she saw the open opportunity to hit it to me and I just drove it in, I guess.”

DeMidio said the Scots have found their stride, beating No. 2 Westbrook and No. 3 Thornton in overtime, teams that defeated the Scots in the regular season.

“We’re all just playing to our potential and working really well together,” said DeMidio.

Riitano said people are seeing the real Scots.

“It just goes to show that even though we were placed at a lower seed, we’re going to get in there and be tough and show what we have,” she said.

Thornton Academy was in its first semifinal since 1992.

“We had lots of opportunities,” said Coach Lori Smith. “We just weren’t following the ball and getting it off the pads.”

 

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

 

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