BIDDEFORD — The Cheverus field hockey team is going back to the Class A state championship game. This time, the Stags made it look easy.
Lucy Johnson recorded a hat trick in the first 17 minutes of play en route to four goals altogether, and No. 1 Cheverus defeated No. 6 Windham, 6-0, in the Class A South final Wednesday night at Waterhouse Field.
Cheverus, which also got goals from Olivia McCartney and Taylor Tory, improved to 17-0 and has now won 35 straight games. In the regional final last year, the Stags went down to the wire with Scarborough before emerging with a 2-1 victory.
The Stags punched their return ticket with the same dominance that they’ve shown all season.
“We took it game by game, and we didn’t think ahead of ourselves,” Johnson said. “Our teamwork really came through tonight.”
Windham (11-6), which rode a Cinderella path to the regional final that included a quarterfinal win over No. 3 Scarborough, tried to give itself the best chance it could by pushing the pace and being the aggressor, as opposed to sitting back and defending waves of Cheverus pressure.
“We wanted to get to the ball first,” Eagles Coach Cory DiDonato said. “We wanted to cut off their passes, and we wanted to try to double-team. Once they got over the 50, we wanted to try to break up their breakaways, because they’ve got a lot of speed.”
Too much, in fact. On the first Cheverus penalty corner, the ball was inserted to the top of the circle and then sent left to Lily Johnson, who found her sister on the other end of the circle. Lucy Johnson received the pass and sniped a shot halfway up the netting in the cage, putting the Stags in front with 7:26 left in the first quarter.
Lucy Johnson wasn’t done. She stole a Windham attempt to clear the ball down the field in the dwindling seconds of the first quarter, went back upfield and drilled a shot with 4.1 seconds left to make it 2-0.
Early in the second quarter, she brought the ball up the right side, then wove through the defense and scored for a 3-0 lead.
Asked what spurred her to those individual heroics, Johnson spread the credit.
“I definitely think that all of my teammates helped with (my game),” she said. “Our defense was very strong tonight, our midfield pushed up really well, and corners were executed really well. We did a good job tonight.”
There was one more highlight goal from the sophomore – a shot from straight on that hit the Windham goalie and caromed into the cage with 8:24 left in the third quarter.
McCartney scored with 6:58 to go in the third, and Tory rounded out the scoring when she collected a Windham turnover and went in for a goal with 5:18 to play.
“The girls have worked so hard this year, from this summer through this season,” Cheverus Coach Theresa Arsenault said. “They’ve really connected and bonded and grown as a group.”
DiDonato was proud that her team reached the regional final after starting the season 1-4.
“I almost am glad that we had some hard games first, because it proved to them that they could overcome adversity,” she said. “The girls were like ‘We’ve got this. We’re sick of losing, let’s pick it up.’ … They’re just so talented, and I think they finally realized how talented they are.”
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