FREEPORT — Freshman Eliza Thorne’s second goal of the game, an unassisted strike 1 minute, 27 seconds into the second overtime, gave third-seeded Fryeburg Academy a 3-2 victory at No. 2 Freeport in a Class B South field hockey semifinal Saturday afternoon.
Thorne got a step on a defender on the right side, dribbled in and beat goalie Piper Sherbert to lift the Raiders (11-4-1) into the regional final Wednesday at Sanford High against top-seeded York.
“This is really awesome,” said Thorne. “My teammates are great and I’m really glad for them. They’ve been very motivational.”
Freeport, which won at Fryeburg in overtime in last year’s semifinal round, took a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game when Aynslie Decker scored on a rebound off a penalty corner.
The Falcons nearly doubled their lead late in the half, but Autumn Golding missed just wide, and Fryeburg goalie Bailey Richardson (seven saves) denied shots from Ally Randall and Kyla Havey on a corner which was played out after time expired.
After mustering just two shots in the first half, Fryeburg got things going with 27:21 left in regulation, as Thorne scored unassisted.
Freeport went back on top with 22:40 remaining, with Decker scoring for the second time, beating Richardson in traffic,. Then with 20:14 left, Juliette Albert set up Camden Jones for the equalizer.
The score remained 2-2 through the end of regulation and the first of two eight-minute overtimes, but early in the second OT, Thorne extended her team’s season.
The Falcons finished at 10-4-2.
“We just had to keep trying,” said Thorne, who substituted for Jones just seconds before the decisive goal. “I just went for it. I just tried to focus. I wasn’t really thinking about it and I just saw the ball go in the goal. It was a great feeling.”
“It was two very good teams today,” said Fryeburg Coach Dede Frost. “We’ve been competitive all season long, but we weren’t able to finish. Today, it was nice to finish.”
Freeport finished with a 9-7 edge in shots on goal. The Falcons got four saves from Sherbert and took seven corners to Fryeburg Academy’s three, but weren’t able to secure a regional final rematch with York.
“We practiced for overtime all week, so it wasn’t a lack of being prepared,” said Freeport Coach Marcia Wood. “We were all over the place, they just got their stick on the ball. We accomplished a lot this year. We finished No. 2 (in the region), got to host a semifinal, and seeing the youth program here being excited, we just hope to build on that.”
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