KENNEBUNK — The Kennebunk and Lake Region field hockey teams would have to settle Tuesday’s match in overtime, but it wasn’t for lack of scoring opportunities on the Rams’ part.

Kennebunk fired 18 shots on Lake Region’s goal, but the Rams weren’t able to finish until the 6:07 mark of the first overtime period when Liv Sandford put a rebound into the back of the net to give her team a 1-0 victory.

“I think I thanked the heavens on that one because there were just so many chances that we had on the field today that just didn’t go in,” said Kennebunk coach Kayla Billings of the gamewinning goal.

Sandford was happy to finally beat the Lake Region keeper after several missed opportunities.

“We had a lot of opportunities throughout the whole game and we just couldn’t finish, so that was really frustrating, but we finished in the end – so that was great,” said Sandford.

The game-winning goal seemed to be giftwrapped for Sandford, who found herself in front of a wide-open goal with the ball after a hard shot from Britney Gregoire got the keeper out of position.

“I got really nervous when it came to me, I was bobbling the ball, but I got it in and that’s all that mattered,” said Sandford of her game-winner.

Billings was happy to see all of her team’s hard work eventually pay off.

“The girls have worked so hard. They have been working all week to tighten up those offensive aspects of our game … they were happening today and that final finish just wouldn’t happen for us,” said Billings. “When that ball, when I saw it cross the line, I was a pretty happy coach.”

The Kennebunk coach also thought her team worked well together – especially when it came to keeping their frustration under control.

“I think they do a good job of helping each other with that. You have to give them the insight that, ‘you’re doing everything right … keep going and keep pushing,’” said Billings, who said her team has the right mindset. “They have that internal desire inside of them to want to continue to play, to play hard and do well.”

The win was big for Kennebunk when it comes to the HealPoint standings, which had Lake Region ahead of the Rams before Tuesday’s game.

“It was a game that we knew we had to win in order to move up in the standings and we want to be in a good position heading into playoffs,” said Billings.

The victory pushed Kennebunk’s record to 7-2-1 and pushed the Rams into third place in the playoff rankings – just below undefeated York and Yarmouth and just above Spruce Mountain (6-4) and Lake Region (6-4).

The Rams, who got four saves from goalie Liv Kudas on Tuesday, will continue their playoff push today when they visit Fryeburg (6-3).

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.