BIDDEFORD – Defending Class A state champion Biddeford has emphasized mental toughness throughout the early portion of the high school field hockey season. The Tigers’ focus paid off when it mattered most Tuesday.
Carley Lovejoy recorded a hat trick, including the game-winner off a corner play with no time left on the clock, and Biddeford beat Cheverus 3-2 at Waterhouse Field.
“We had a lot of one-goal games last year where we had to be resilient and bounce back,” said Biddeford head coach Caitlin Tremberth. “I think now that we have a lot of seniors and juniors, they know how to react in games like this.”
Facing one of this year’s title contenders in a jam-packed Class A South, on Biddeford’s home turf no less, Cheverus didn’t show any jitters in the first half, and the Stags were often quicker to the ball than the Tigers.
Cheverus’ sense of urgency led to more scoring opportunities, and the Stags finally broke through Biddeford’s defense when Lucia Pompeo rebounded her own shot and fired a goal with 9:35 remaining in the half.
The Stags extended their lead to 2-0 about five minutes later when forward Lucy Pirone converted on a cross pass from Taylor Tory with 4:07 left in the half. The goal showcased what Cheverus has worked on early this season.
“Something that we’ve been trying to do is just to play as a team and work as a team,” said Cheverus head coach Theresa Hendrix. “The girls really bought into that. They knew that Biddeford’s always tough, but I thought we came out with confidence and just focused on our game in that first half.”
With 1.5 seconds left until halftime, Lovejoy rebounded a miss and stuck the ball in the back of the net to cut Biddeford’s deficit to 2-1 and foreshadowed what was yet to come.
“(That goal) was huge,” Lovejoy said. “It was definitely a confidence-booster for the team.”
Her coach agreed.
“That goal was so big,” Tremberth said. “I think just bouncing back from two goals is hard in itself but (Lovejoy) getting her goal, I think we really fed off that momentum and positivity.”
Lovejoy tied the score on a breakaway opportunity early in the second half. After intercepting a pass near midfield, Lovejoy found Jayme Walton, who immediately gave it back to Lovejoy. The junior powered a shot into the goal to make it 2-2 with 25:22 remaining.
Biddeford drew a penalty corner on Cheverus with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game. The Tigers, who didn’t relinquish possession during the penalty play as the clock ran out, moved the ball around from the left of the circle to the right, where Lovejoy found a seam in the low right corner of the goal and punched it in for the winner.
“I was speechless,” Lovejoy said. “I was just blown away by (the winning shot).”
Even though Biddeford won, Tremberth hopes to see more cohesion from her team moving forward.
“We’re trying to use the team as a whole and move as a unit,” Tremberth said. “We have some great individual talent, but we’re going to try to be quicker to the ball and we’re going to try to capitalize and be more consistent so we don’t have to comeback from two goals.”
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