KENNEBUNK — Before the beginning of every season, Kennebunk field hockey coach Kayla Billings has each of her players set a goal for the upcoming season.

For junior Jackie Murphy, that goal was to score three goals in one game.

Mission accomplished.

Murphy scored once in the first half and twice in the second on Wednesday as the Rams dominated play throughout on the way to a 7-1 victory over Gray-New Gloucester in a Western Maine Conference Class B game.

“It’s just a big deal to accomplish that goal. It’s a big motivation,” Murphy said. “It’s just exciting to know that I got it.”

“Jackie’s by far one the hardest workers on the team, and she takes advantage of every minute in practice and every moment in games,” Billings added. “For her to be able to achieve that personal glory, that makes my job as a coach.”

Rachel Brigham also scored twice for Kennebunk (7-4-1), which also got goals from Meg Cadigan and Kristen Foch as the Rams held a 19-1 advantage in shots on goal and a 13-0 edge in penalty corners as they dominated the winless Patriots (0-12).

“This is the first game that they’ve risen above and played their game and not had even moments really where they lapsed and played to the level of the competition,” Billings said. “We knew that we needed to score goals. Going into the playoffs, we’re going to be facing teams that limit our opportunities, so when we do go down there, we need to make it count. We were able to do that today.”

Kennebunk did that from the very beginning, pinning the Patriots back with relentless pressure in the first 12 minutes of the game. It paid off with 17:52 left in the first, when on a penalty corner Cadigan took a pass at the top of the circle and pounded a shot through traffic and past goalie Adrianna Kimball for the opening goal.

The floodgates opened not soon after, with Brigham soon scoring a pair of goals just 80 seconds apart as she found room in the middle of a scramble in front of net to poke the ball home. Murphy then grabbed Kennebunk’s fourth on a similar play with 10:30 left in the half, and the Rams had an unassailable lead.

“You’ve always got to pick up all that garbage in there. We have been working on rebounds and how to pull balls off goalie’s pads,” Billings said. “It was nice to see them shoot around the goalie as opposed to right at her.”

The Patriots did manage to get one back with 5:41 left in the first half as Sara Carden scored.

But after the break, the Rams stayed relentless, with Foch scoring their fifth eight minutes into the half before Murphy scored the final two of the game to make it 7-1.

“Coach always wants us to do our best and not play down to the competition, and we gave that to her,” Murphy said. “It’s more about the way we play than whether we’re playing the No. 1 team or the last-place team.”

While any player scoring three times is an obvious boon, Billings said having Murphy score three is even more important for the Rams considering her position on the field.

“In the past, we’ve got stuck behind that wall that defenses put up on the right side and haven’t been able to get the ball to Jackie on the left post, and obviously today, that was successful for us,” Billings said. “We were able to pass stick to stick and distribute the ball a little better, which in the past has been an issue for us.”

Kennebunk will face a tougher opponent on Friday, when it hosts Fryeburg Academy (5-6) on senior night.

A win would help the Rams, currently sixth in the Heal Points standings, move closer to fifth-ranked Lake Region (8-4) in an important battle for position considering the fifth-ranked team hosts No. 6 in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

“That’s a big deal for us because that’s a long trip,” Murphy said of potentially having to go to Naples to face the Lakers. “It’s tough to play after that long of a bus ride, and plus (Friday is the) senior’s last home game, so that’s a big deal for us.

“We haven’t even got past the first round in a long time, so to get that home-field advantage would really help.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323.