SACO – The No. 7 seeded Thornton Academy field hockey team shut out visiting No. 10 Sanford 7-0 in the Class A South preliminary round on Saturday.
The Trojans were led by Taylor Ouellette, who scored three goals and broke the all-time scoring record for TA.
“It’s pretty exciting – I couldn’t do it without the help of my team. It was nice because we were just connecting today with passes and getting it in,” said Ouellette. “We didn’t expect (the shutout) to happen since they were the 10th seed and we were seventh so we were pretty close. It was exciting and gets our hopes up.”
TA dominated from the get-go, and took a quick 2-0 lead on goals by Ouellette and Cat Henaire. Ouellette would knock in her second with seven minutes left in the half to take the 3-0 lead at the break.
TA had four different goal scorers as they stayed hot in the second half, as Ouellette, Olivia Lambert, Madison Skillings and Aliyah Bureau all registered goals to secure the playoff win.
“I was pleased – we’ve now gone further than last year’s team which was a veteran team, this is a young team. They played well, I think getting those two early goals definitely helped,” said TA coach Lori Smith after the win.
Smith was also impressed with Ouellette’s performance on Saturday as well as the impact she has made on the TA program throughout her high school tenure.
“She’s a sniper in front of the net. This year I’ve seen her do a lot of breakaway goals so she’s improved her one on one skills on breakaways. She’s working on those skills all the time and she’s fast, being fast as a forward helps,” said Smith.
Sanford coach Diana Walker was disappointed in the loss, but was happy with the progress the team made in 2017. She will also miss her veterans, including senior goalie Amber Singleton, who made 12 stops for the Spartans.
“It wasn’t a team effort today, we’ve definitely played better. They outplayed us, it’s simple. I’m not going to kae any excuses, we go beat today,” said Walker. “Last year we didn’t make playoffs and our goal was to make playoffs. We only won three games last year and we doubled it. We still have a really young group, I’m going to miss my seniors, I’m going to miss my goalie who was here all four years.”
TA will move on to face No. 2 Massabesic on Wednesday. The Trojans pulled off the 4-1 upset earlier in the year, handing the Mustangs their first loss. Ouellette and company feel ready to take on the powerhouse that is Massabesic again.
“We’re going to have to come in with our head ready to go, they’re obviously going to want to beat us for revenge so we just need to get in and get ready and we should be good,” said Ouellette.

SACO – The No. 7 seeded Thornton Academy field hockey team shut out visiting No. 10 Sanford 7-0 in the Class A South preliminary round on Saturday.
The Trojans were led by Taylor Ouellette, who scored three goals and broke the all-time scoring record for TA.
“It’s pretty exciting – I couldn’t do it without the help of my team. It was nice because we were just connecting today with passes and getting it in,” said Ouellette. “We didn’t expect (the shutout) to happen since they were the 10th seed and we were seventh so we were pretty close. It was exciting and gets our hopes up.”
TA dominated from the get-go, and took a quick 2-0 lead on goals by Ouellette and Cat Henaire. Ouellette would knock in her second with seven minutes left in the half to take the 3-0 lead at the break.
TA had four different goal scorers as they stayed hot in the second half, as Ouellette, Olivia Lambert, Madison Skillings and Aliyah Bureau all registered goals to secure the playoff win.
“I was pleased – we’ve now gone further than last year’s team which was a veteran team, this is a young team. They played well, I think getting those two early goals definitely helped,” said TA coach Lori Smith after the win.
Smith was also impressed with Ouellette’s performance on Saturday as well as the impact she has made on the TA program throughout her high school tenure.
“She’s a sniper in front of the net. This year I’ve seen her do a lot of breakaway goals so she’s improved her one on one skills on breakaways. She’s working on those skills all the time and she’s fast, being fast as a forward helps,” said Smith.
Sanford coach Diana Walker was disappointed in the loss, but was happy with the progress the team made in 2017. She will also miss her veterans, including senior goalie Amber Singleton, who made 12 stops for the Spartans.
“It wasn’t a team effort today, we’ve definitely played better. They outplayed us, it’s simple. I’m not going to kae any excuses, we go beat today,” said Walker. “Last year we didn’t make playoffs and our goal was to make playoffs. We only won three games last year and we doubled it. We still have a really young group, I’m going to miss my seniors, I’m going to miss my goalie who was here all four years.”
TA will move on to face No. 2 Massabesic on Wednesday. The Trojans pulled off the 4-1 upset earlier in the year, handing the Mustangs their first loss. Ouellette and company feel ready to take on the powerhouse that is Massabesic again.
“We’re going to have to come in with our head ready to go, they’re obviously going to want to beat us for revenge so we just need to get in and get ready and we should be good,” said Ouellette.

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