Freeport’s field hockey team produced arguably the biggest victory in program history, followed by a tough state game setback last week and in the aftermath of a season to remember, it’s clear the Falcons are here to stay as a championship contender.

Freeport, which wasn’t viewed as a top team coming into the season, due mostly to its extremely young roster, caught fire and came of age faster than anyone could have anticipated and ultimately fell just one goal shy of the ultimate prize.

The Falcons, ranked third in Class B South after a strong 10-3-1 regular season, blanked No. 6 Lake Region (3-0) in the quarterfinals, then knocked off No. 2 Cape Elizabeth with surprising ease in the semifinals (6-2), to avenge two of its losses.

That sent Freeport to last Wednesday’s Class B South Final against No. 1 York (the other team that beat the Falcons this year) in Biddeford, where the Falcons pulled off a stunner.

One that took a long, long time to finish.

Freeport and York played scoreless field hockey through four quarters, then 16 minutes of “sudden victory” overtime. As a result, the game came down to alternating penalty corners, where through six rounds, frustration continued on both sides and neither team could put the ball in the cage.

Freeport senior goalie Piper Williams was a big reason the game went as long as did, as she made 14 saves.

“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.”

“Piper’s in the zone and she’s been phenomenal,” said Freeport coach Marcia Wood.

Then, in the seventh round, after the Wildcats failed to score, the Falcons ended it, as sophomore Anna Maschino played the hero, scoring the goal to produce the hard-fought 1-0 victory.

“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.

“It was unbelievable, I’m honestly in shock. 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.”

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

“We don’t know what winning regionals is,” said Freeport coach Marcia Wood. “It’s not a thing that many Freeport teams kind of do all the time.”

The Falcons won Class B South for the first time and earned just their third-ever regional crown (1987 and 2000 in Western C).

Saturday, Freeport went for its first Class B state championship when it met undefeated Lawrence at Messalonskee in Oakland.

This time, the Falcons wouldn’t be able to celebrate at the end, as the Bulldogs got a goal just before halftime and Freeport, which had one last chance on a penalty corner after time expired wasn’t able to answer and lost, 1-0, to finish the year 13-4-1.

“We took this team and we kept them to one (goal),” Wood said. “We gave them a game. That’s really what I wanted today. Being able to fight until the end and have shots on goal, I thought we held our own.

“This group has gone above and beyond my expectations of them. With five of my six seniors who just started playing field hockey in high school and only have two or three years experience, along with three sophomores and six freshmen, I thought it might take longer for them to gel. I knew the team was special after we beat Fryeburg, 8-0. A team that can give us a lot of trouble and we were able to dominate. As the games went on, the team really started to bond and find their team chemistry. The York win was huge during the season and gave us the confidence we needed through playoffs.

Once playoffs hit my seniors were like, ‘We are not losing.’ Liv Christensen, Carlee Pontau, Chloe White and Piper Williams played lights-out defense during the playoffs and had a ‘refuse to lose mentality.’ They fed on each other’s energy and it was so fun to watch.”

Look out for the Falcons going forward.

“I think my seniors taught this group what it means to love the sport and have team chemistry,” Wood said. “They have taught the younger kids how to win and be competitive. I’m hoping in the years to come they will remember what it felt like to play and win in regionals and hopefully that will be enough to motivate them to keep winning.”

Press Herald staff writer Drew Bonifant contributed to this story.

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

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