Field hockey: Scarborough plays a tight defensive game and remains unbeaten with a 3-1 Western A regional semifinal victory over Thornton Academy.
SCARBOROUGH — Of all the possible playoff games, Kerry Mariello considers the regional semifinals the most dangerous.
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“You tend to look ahead,” said Mariello, the coach of Scarborough High’s top-ranked field hockey team. “My main focus was to make sure the girls were ready for this game.”
That didn’t appear to be an issue Tuesday night.
The unbeaten Red Storm put together a smothering defensive effort and got goals from three players to turn back No. 4 Thornton Academy 3-1 in a Western Class A semifinal.
Scarborough (16-0) will host third-seeded Marshwood (14-2) in the regional championship game Thursday. The time will be determined Wednesday by the Maine Principals’ Association. The Red Storm defeated Marshwood 3-0 in the season opener, but the Hawks were without star player Lindsey Poirier.
“We just want to take it to the end,” said Mariello. “This team is hard working and deserving of this. They came out today to prove and to show that we want to be that ultimate champ in the end.”
The Trojans, who finished 12-4, lost to Scarborough 1-0 in overtime on Sept. 26. But the Red Storm never allowed Thornton to get any offensive rhythm in this game, holding the Trojans to just two shots.
“We know they’re a fast team so we had to play a little more conservatively (on offense),” said Maddy Dobecki, a senior midfielder for Scarborough. “We had to make sure our defense got back.”
Thornton Coach Lori Smith came away very impressed.
“I would say compared to the last time we played them, they looked like a better team,” she said. “They definitely were more skilled tonight.”
Especially defensively. Smith noted that Red Storm defenders intercepted a lot of crossing passes and “whenever a player on my team had the ball, they would channel her into one of their own players, which is hard to break out of.”
This was a tight game throughout. With 17:35 left in the first half, Scarborough kept the pressure on after a penalty corner was stopped. Thornton goalie Isabella Capozzi made a quick-reaction pad save on a shot through a screen, but Lily Nygren was there to put the rebound in for a 1-0 Red Storm lead.
It remained that way until the second half – and another Scarborough penalty corner. This time Kristen Levesque inserted the ball to Maddy Dobecki, whose shot was tipped into a crowd. During a scramble, Levesque came around and knocked the ball in for a 2-0 lead with 21:46 left.
“I saw the opportunity, I wanted the ball in the back of the net and it went in,” said Dobecki. “I had one goal and that was to get the ball in.”
Just under two minutes later, Kristen Murray tipped in a Dobecki shot and it was suddenly 3-0. Thornton got a goal from Taylor Ouellette, off a nice feed from Grace Pickering, to cut it to 3-1 with 18:33 left, but the Trojans wouldn’t get another chance.
Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:
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