BIDDEFORD — With a berth in the Class B field hockey state championship game at stake, Freeport survived one York chance after another Wednesday.

And then the game was sitting on a Freeport stick. And Anna Maschino didn’t miss.

Maschino scored in the seventh round of the penalty corner stage after overtime, lifting No. 3 Freeport to a 1-0 victory over No. 1 York in the Class B South championship game at Waterhouse Field. Field hockey teams tied after two overtimes alternate corners until there’s a winner.

“It was unbelievable. I’m honestly in shock,” Maschino said. “I knew we could do it. Our team has come so far this year, and it was just unbelievable. I’m just so proud of us.”

Freeport (13-3-1), which got 14 saves from goalie Piper Williams, has won 11 of its last 12 games.

“This team on the bus, the whole way down, was (saying) ‘We’re not losing, we’re not losing, this is not our last game,'” said Freeport Coach Marcia Wood, whose team will play in its first state final since the Class C championship game in 2000. “We don’t know what winning regionals is. It’s not a thing that many Freeport teams kind of do all the time.”

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York (15-2) threatened multiple times during the two overtimes but kept being turned away by Williams and the resilient Falcons. Then the two teams went to penalty corners, and neither team scored on its first six attempts.

York’s seventh corner ended without a shot. On Freeport’s seventh try, Ava Gervais made the insert, and after a give-and-go with Emily Groves, the ball hit off York goalie Natalie Dickson and found its way to Maschino.

The sophomore calmly handled the ball and shot it into the cage, setting off a celebration.

“I kind of redirected the ball and took my best shot,” Maschino said. “That happens a lot. We do a lot of work on post and hitting it in through a flat pass. … It’s come a long ways. Practice pays off.”

For most of the second half and overtime, Freeport hung on as York held the advantage in possession.

“You’re just praying. In overtime, there’s nothing skill-wise here. You run, you run, you run,” Wood said. “The girls were exhausted, and I was saying ‘You’ve just got to keep going. It’s going to end at some point.'”

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The Wildcats had a golden chance to win when Abigail Armlin, one of the state’s best seniors, took a hard shot that Williams knocked away with just over five minutes to go in the first overtime. With 30 seconds left, Armlin had another shot from the left, but Williams again made the save.

“It’s my senior season, and I don’t want it to end,” Williams said. “I guess I’m just putting my heart out on the field, because when I’m done, I’m done. And I don’t want that to be any time soon.”

Wood praised Williams and Freeport’s defense, led by Sydney Gelhar.

“Piper is in the zone,” she said. “And she has been phenomenal.”

The Wildcats had another chance in the second overtime when Hadley Cucco was in position for a rebound but couldn’t get a handle on the ball.

“We have to be able to execute, and we didn’t execute today,” York Coach Barb Marois said. “It’s hard when you do get the chances and you can’t finish them off. You know they’re few and far between.”


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