BRUNSWICK

The MPA postseason for field hockey begins this weekend with preliminary games, while the quarterfinals are set for Wednesday and Thursday.

The Mid-Coast region has a team each in Class A, B and C, most notably defending State Class C champion Lisbon High School.

Mt. Ararat (7-7) is the seventh seed in Eastern Maine Class A and will head up to No. 2 Messalonskee (12-2) and Freeport (5-9) holds down the eighth spot in Western Maine Class B and is scheduled to host No. 9 Greely (4-9-1) in a Saturday prelim.

The 11-2-1 Greyhounds have the top seed in Western Maine Class C and will play the winner of No. 9 Maranacook/ No. 8 St. Dom’s.

“Our offensive goals have come from several people this year,” said Lisbon coach Julie Wescott. “I have Ari Kahler with 17 goals and two assists, Hanna Jordan with 13 goals and seven assists, Olivia Harrington with nine goals and seven assists, Sarah Craig with six goals and three assists, and Molly Nicholson with five assists and three goals.

Lisbon also sports a solid midfield with Bailey Cutler, Jenn Smith, Michaela Bedell and Mia Durgin. “They have been our regular rotation and bring strength and consistency to our midfield,” praised Wescott.

Defensively, Ali Bubar has had a very strong season, along with Mariah Breton and Nichole Jones.

Lisbon scored 54 goals and allowed 12.

“I do believe we have grown over the season and seem to be playing our best field hockey now,” said Wescott. “The girls and I knew we were going to get each team’s best effort every game because of our success last year. It took a couple games to adjust, but we stopped thinking about last year and are focusing on new goals for this year and that has seemed to set the tone.

“As far as the rest of the season goes, we are taking every game as it comes and playing with no regrets,” continued Wescott. “Our goal is to give each game our best effort and leave everything on the field and work together as a team. Every thing in postseason is a challenge. Teams have improved over the course of the season … it’s a one-and-done mindset, do-or-die, really. We are going to focus on executing our style of play as best as we can.”

Mt. Ararat 7th

The Eagles head up to Messalonskee and try to avenge an earlier 10-0 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference drubbing.

Despite scoring just one goal through the first five games (all loses), the Eagles wound up with 41 goals, while allowing 36.

Mt. Ararat opened the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference season at 0-5 and one of those defeats was that 10-0 at home to Messalonskee.

The Eagles are led by Caitlin LaFountain (51 career goals, 25 this season) and sidekick/winger Carly Raymond (8 goals, 21 assists), along with Kristen Pierce (6 goals). Alyssa Curit and Rhiannon Hersey have three assists each.

Midfield standouts have been LaFountain, Maddie Alexander and Danielle Palmer, while defensively, Paige Perry, Kelly Richard, Samantha Hamilton have stood out.

Goaltender Nellie Hetherington has 72 saves in 14 games with three shutouts.

Head coach Kelly LaFountain has seen improvement along the way, especially in the defensive end.

“Since the beginning of the season we have improved our passing and scoring,” said coach LaFountain. “Our defense has stepped it up where we are holding teams to fewer penalty corners that the first five games.

The beginning was rough, especially against the top teams in the East: Skowhegan and Messalonskee.

“We played the top teams in the beginning of the season and we were still trying to figure out who we were and what positions players needed to be in,” offered LaFountain. “We gained some much needed confidence winning five games in a row. Then we played two tougher teams on the road. We lost those games to Mt. Blue (2-0) and Oxford Hills (1-0), but I felt we held our own and were right there with them. We had our chances to score in those games but were just a bit off.

“We are excited to extend our season into the first round of the playoffs. This group of seniors are really looking forward to the opportunity to compete and see how far they have come playing one of the top teams in the league.”

Coach LaFountain looks at last year’s squad that made it to the semifinals. She sees some similarities with the 2013 version.

“Both teams are pretty special and two of the most successful teams I have had the pleasure of coaching,” said LaFountain. “They are very different teams in many ways, but when it comes right down to it both teams worked very hard to improve each time out and they learned to play together to be successful.

So, now we have Messalonskee.

“In order for us to stay alive in the playoffs we need to limit our opponents scoring opportunities by marking tight in the circle and forcing the ball out of the middle of the field,” said LaFountain.

“Offensively we will need to work really hard to possess the ball and make the right decisions at the most opportune time to make good on our scoring runs. Bottom line is to play our best field hockey and give it our best shot.

“Messalonskee has a lot of very good offensive players. There really isn’t just one or two players you can key on. Any one of them can hurt you at any given time. They are an excellent passing team and are extremely efficient in their corner play. They will be a very tough first-round opponent.”

The Eagles also had a fivegame win streak, which put Mt. Ararat back on track.

“Before we went on our five-game win streak I asked the seniors how they wanted to be remembered,” said LaFountain “They answered by setting some team and individual records for our field hockey program.”

“Team records set include most goals in a season with 43; most assists in a season with 32; most goals in a game with 11 versus Brunswick on October 12.

Individually, Caitlin LaFountain set a game scoring record with six goals against Brunswick, while Raymond chalked up the most assists in a game (4) and did that three times in her career. She also has the most assists in a season (21) and career (32).

Freeport in prelim

Freeport and Greely will hook up for a second time.

During the regular season, Freeport tried to hold on to a 1-0 lead only to see the Rangers scored off a penalty corner with no time remaining and then score the winning goal in the first sudden-death overtime for a 2-1 victory.

The Falcons scored 21 goals in Western Maine Conference play and allowed 39.

Goal leaders are Hannah Williams (7) and Olivia Bubar, Megan Peacock and Bailey Coffin with three each.

“Megan Peacock has a big hit that helps us get the ball down the field,” praised head coach Marcia Wood. “And Abby Smith has the stick skills to move the ball through defenders and dish it off to the attack. Lexi Peacock plays defense and is our aggressive player in the defensive circle, she is not afraid of anything.

“Also, goalie Morgan Karnes split time at the beginning of the year, but now plays the whole game. She has improved tremendously throughout the season.

She is now averaging 15 saves a game.”

Wood has seen the Falcons make great strides this fall.

“We have come a long way since the beginning of the season … it has taken a bit for the girls to get used to one another and get used to my coaching style. We are a young team in respect to varsity experience.

“We’ve talked a lot about how we should feel after a game and if we played 100 percent the entire game. I think that was our struggle this year, we only played a full game of intensity once or twice. We need to play a full game every game.”

“It was a hard jump from C to B and we don’t have the depth to compete with some of the B schools. It was a hard first few games, adjusting to the speed of the play and the quickness.

“Greely was definitely a heartbreaker. We played hard most of the game just ran out of steam in OT. It was a life lesson learned, and hopefully, if we ever get into that situation again things will be different.

“Going into playoffs we need to be conditioned to play a whole game and we need to do what we say at halftime and timeouts … we talk the talk, now we’ve got to walk the walk.”

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