Erika Hannigan scored with 3:50 remaining in the first half and third-seeded Oak Hill went on to defeat eighth-ranked Lisbon 3-0 in the Class C South field hockey championship game Tuesday at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Oak Hill (12-5) advanced to the state final for the first time and will face Maine Central Institute (13-4) on Saturday in Orono.

“We all knew how we felt last year (Oak Hill lost a chance at a perfect season by falling to Lisbon in the regional final) and we didn’t want to feel that way again, so we came out even stronger,” said Hannigan. “Lisbon is a great team and it was definitely very evenly matched, but I’m so happy right now.”

Hannigan appeared to give the Raiders the lead with 5:50 remaining in the first half when she redirected a shot from Brooke Surette off a penalty corner into the cage, but the goal was disallowed for a high stick.

“That pushed me even more to get the next one,” Hannigan said.

That came exactly two minutes later. Hannigan used nifty stick skills to make a one-on-one move against a defender just inside the 15-yard line before firing a shot from left to right on the ground past goalkeeper Mikaylia Harnden.

“Getting the first goal is always the hardest,” Oak Hill Coach Betsy Gilbert said. “These are kids and they just need to get over their little jitters and their worries out there on the field. Once they got that (goal) then they basically controlled the game from that point in time.

“They had 30 minutes of hardcore field hockey to play. They’ve had their sights set on this day for a long time so they weren’t going to let anything happen to not get it.”

The Raiders dominated the second half. They held an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal and 11-1 edge in penalty corners.

Still, it wasn’t until 12:38 remained that Oak Hill made it 2-0 when Zoe Buteau found Lexi Fuller alone along the back post off a penalty corner.

“I was very excited. I had been working very hard in practices on my tipping because I play defense but I have I have to come up on corners,” Fuller said. “Just working on that tipping has helped a lot and it was exciting to know that hard work paid off.”

The Greyhounds (7-10) mounted a late comeback but a couple of nice saves from Abby Fuller made sure Lisbon – which knocked off No. 1 Dirigo and No. 5 North Yarmouth Academy on its way to the regional final – did not keep its improbable run alive.

Hayden Spencer added a goal with 4:55 left from Kylee Veilleux.

“This is it. This has been one team, one dream for many years in the making to get there,” Gilbert said. “Last year was our first time making it to the regionals and we lost in double overtime, right here (in this round) to Lisbon, and this year it was redemption.”

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