LISBON — Kailey Hackett weaved through the defense inside the circle, firing a shot to the back of the cage early in the second half

for the only score as Dirigo held off a feisty Lisbon surge for a 1-0 Mountain Valley Conference high school field hockey victory on Monday. 

Goals have been hard to come by in this young season for both teams. Lisbon fell to Winthrop, 1-0 last week, while Dirigo only managed one-goal in a 5-1 loss to the Ramblers. 

“We have had two games and that’s been our problem,” Dirigo coach Gretchen Curtis said. “We’re getting shots off, but we’re not picking up the rebounds. We’re getting better at it, we’ll take the win against this team, every time we play them, it’s always a tough game.” 

While the game remained scoreless in the opening half, the Cougars appeared to be in control. For the first ten minutes, the visitors continuously kept the ball in their offensive end, led by Taylor Bryant and Hackett. Dirigo hit nine shots at the cage, whether they were wide or broken up at the last second, while getting four on goal in the first 30 minutes, including a Hackett blast that hit the post and bounced away.  

Meanwhile, Lisbon was unable to gain any offensive momentum in the opening frame, putting no shots on goal in the half. 

“We came out flat in the first half,” Lisbon coach Julie Petrie said. “I wasn’t pleased at halftime, I told them we needed more energy in the second half, and I think the effort was better.” 

Lone score 

Four minutes into the second half, Hackett broke free from her defender, dribbling in the circle, pulling Lisbon keeper Becky Budesheim out of the net. The junior then blasted the ball to the back of the cage for the score. 

“I felt like our passing was good. When our passing is on it’s easier to get it in the cage because it’s a ‘team’ that gets it down the field which makes it easier to score,” Hackett said.  

Dirigo continued controlling the ball deep in its own territory, creating opportunities with 10 second-half penalty corners. Despite the double-digit attempts, Dirigo was unable to convert as the Lisbon defense kept the Cougars from making any solid shots. 

“We work on them frequently, we just need to work getting the stick on the ball,” Hackett, who was in the middle of most of the penalty corner attempts said. “Passing it instead of dribbling it to the corner is what we need to do.” 

“We talk a lot about not holding onto the ball,” Curtis said. “(Hackett) has the ability to so she can carry, but for the most part, we want them passing as we work a lot on not dribbling.” 

Budesheim and the defense continued to keep the Greyhounds in the game. 

“She’s playing phenomenal so far this year, she had a couple of point-blank saves today,” Petrie said of her senior keeper. “And our veteran ‘D’ works very well together. They work hard and communicate well back there, and I completely trust them which is why we’ve held a couple of teams to just one goal.” 

The familiarity with one another plays a big role. 

“It’s very important. We’ve been playing together for a while so we’re able to read each other very well. We listen and hear each other well too,” Budesheim, who finished with eight saves said. 

“It does get tough sometimes with spacing, but I think we’re getting better and starting to know what each other is going to do and where we will be,” added Lisbon’s Timber Mattson. 

Lisbon’s best opportunity to score came at the eight-minute mark when Loreesa Potvin raced to a loose ball but was beaten to it by Dirigo keeper Allie Dyke. Two-minutes later, the Greyhounds were awarded their first penalty corner, and again with 4:20 remaining, but were unsuccessful with finding the cage on both occasions. 

In the final seconds, Lisbon had another chance to tie the game, but the Dirigo defense thwarted any threat to preserve the shutout. 

“We’re learning as we’re super young, little and feisty. One veteran on the front line, the rest are freshmen and sophomores,” Petrie said. “I do think we’re so young that they get nervous, maybe a little panic. Once we do score though, I think it will come together. I expect us to have some growing pains in the beginning and we’re going to get better and we’ll put the ball in the goal.  

“Again, I am happy with our defensive effort, so we need to work from the back and push it up front,” added Petrie. 

Dirigo hosts Oak Hill on Wednesday (4 p.m.) while the Greyhounds will look to continue the late momentum to Friday, when they travel to play the Raiders in Wales, also at 4 p.m. 

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