FREEPORT FIELD HOCKEY player Reilly Lefebvre moves the ball across the midfield line during a Western Maine Conference game at Freeport High School on Thursday. Anna Wiebus pursues for Yarmouth, which won 5-0.
It wasn’t your normal 5-0 game.
After falling behind early to Yarmouth in Thursday’s Western Maine Conference field hockey game, Freeport bounced back soundly in the second half, controlling nearly all of the ball and applying steady pressure — the only thing missing was the final product.
CHLOE DAVIDSON battles with Yarmouth’s Nicole McDowell during a girls high school field hockey game in Freeport on Tuesday. The Falcons took 16 penalty corners, but fell 5-0.
“It’s hard when you look at that score because when you’re looking at how we played compared to even last game or the game before that, we actually look a lot better,” Freeport coach Marcia Wood said. “Unfortunately when you can’t finish inside the circle, that’s kind of been our struggle. We’re having a really hard time finishing.”
Down 3-0 at the start of the second frame, Freeport (4-3-1) quickly flipped a switch and took control of the ball. Just over a minute in, the Falcons earned their first of many penalty corners after taking just one in the first half.
The ensuing shot flew just wide of the cage and, in line with the game, Yarmouth (5-3) answered less than a minute later with its fourth goal. After another Falcons penalty corner at the 26:20 mark, Eliza Lunt punched in a goal for the Clippers and put the game out of reach.
The ball hardly left Yarmouth’s side of the field after that, with Freeport taking 13 more penalty corners before the final whistle. Wood called out plays from the sideline and players on the bench encouraged their teammates to “finish” and “get it on cage,” but the Yarmouth wall was too tall.
Cate Ralph blocked all five shots Freeport fired on goal.
“It’s your one chance to be up in numbers on someone else,” Wood said of the penalty corners. “So, you want to try and capitalize on it. We had a few good looks.”
Jump-start
Penalty corners proved vital on the defensive side of the ball as well, with Yarmouth jumping out to an early lead via Ally MacLeod. A minute and 12 seconds in, the Clippers drew a foul in front of Megan Seymour’s net and set up the game’s first penalty corner. An initial shot was blocked, but MacLeod gathered the ball on the left and fired again to make it 1-0.
On another penalty corner at 9:20, MacLeod controlled a long rebound and rolled it past Seymour into the bottom left-hand corner of the cage and the score was doubled.
In all, Yarmouth took five penalty corners in the first half and scored on three of them.
The Falcons made the most of what little possession they had in the frame, coming close on two occasions. At 7:45, two one-touch long passes down the right-hand side were followed with a sliding ball across goal to a wide-open Emily Randall, who fired just left of the net.
With 4:31 to go, Ralph blocked two close shots and the Falcons’ lone penalty corner of the half was cleared away right after that.
By the second half, it had gotten old.
“It’s frustrating when you see the score, because it’s not reflective of the game,” Wood said. “I thought we made some great passes, I thought we had some good looks — we made a few mistakes and unfortunately you can’t make mistakes against them because they capitalize.”
Despite earning 16 penalty corners to Yarmouth’s five, the Falcons managed just seven shots on cage. Seymour faced 13 shots and saved eight of them.
At least on the schedule, things won’t be getting easier for Freeport any time soon. After visiting York this Saturday and traveling to Yarmouth for a rematch on Sept. 28, the Falcons will play 8-1 Falmouth, which is currently at the top of Class A South.
For Wood, all her team can do is focus on themselves.
“Just trying to stay positive at this point,” she said. “I mean what are you going to do — you’ve got to try and stay positive. We had a lot of opportunities on cage, so that’s a positive thing we’ve got to think about and just kind of focus on those little goals.”
Yarmouth 5, Freeport 0
At Freeport High School
| Yarmouth — | 3 | 2 | — | 5 | |
| Freeport | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
Goals — (Y) Ally MacLeod 2, Eliza Lunt 2, Abby McDowell. Shots on goal — Yarmouth 13, Freeport 7. Saves — (Y) Cate Ralph 7; (F) Megan Seymour 8. Penalty corners — Freeport 16, Yarmouth 6. Records — Yarmouth 5-3, Freeport 4-3-1. Up next for the Falcons — Saturday at York, 11 a.m.
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