YORK — The final horn sounded without a winner, but the players on the Yarmouth and York field hockey teams wore smiles as they high-fived each other after the game.

For one team looking to establish itself as a power and another looking to affirm its status as one of the state’s top programs, Wednesday evening provided some confirmation.

Yarmouth and York tied 1-1, as Erica O’Connor scored for Yarmouth and Olivia Coite answered for the Wildcats in a tight battle between Western Maine Conference rivals.

“I think it was a full, 60-minute game (plus two 8-minute overtimes), competitive the whole time,” Yarmouth Coach Bre Morrill said. “We were very happy with how we played.”

Yarmouth (9-0-1) has been one of the surprises in Class B South this year, and the Clippers have earned validation as a championship contender, first with a win over Freeport early in the season, and now with a draw against a perennial powerhouse.

“York has been a great team, they are a great team,” Yarmouth sophomore Celia Zinman said. “We realized that, we prepared for it. Our record has really helped us gain that confidence, but this, even though it came out in a tie … it’s a lot better than we’ve done in the past.”

York (6-3-2), meanwhile, continued to show progress since a 2-2-1 start. Coach Barb Marois said the improvement she was hoping to see from her revamped lineup is taking hold.

“I wish we had capitalized earlier on some of our chances, because we had a good bunch of them at the beginning. It would have been nice to put one in,” Marois said. “But I was really happy. I think today’s game was probably one of our stronger games of the year, for sure.”

York controlled play early, using big hits from the defense and midfield and aggressive play on Yarmouth players with the ball to tilt the field its way. The Wildcats had 11 corners to Yarmouth’s two but struggled to break through on the scoreboard.

“We’ve been pretty consistent in being able to (control play),” Marois said. “Just putting it in the net, sometimes, doesn’t always happen.”

Yarmouth’s first shot on goal found the net. O’Connor, a freshman, fired the ball into the goal with 7:06 left in the second quarter after a Zinman shot was knocked down.

“We put the pressure on,” O’Connor said. “We realized we had a chance to get it up the field, so we were like ‘This is it, we’ve got to do this.'”

Yarmouth evened the play in the second half, but York still managed to get the equalizer. The Clippers defended York’s eighth corner of the game, but the ball found its way back into the circle and Coite, a senior, knocked in a shot with 12:53 left in the third quarter.

But both teams had chances to break the tie late in the contest. Yarmouth’s Quincey Schnee made a big save in the first overtime on an Emma Joyce shot, which came on the Wildcats’ final corner. York’s Natalie Dickson kicked away a potential winner for the Clippers in the second overtime.

“We knew we had this game, we just needed to get on the scoreboard,” Coite said. “I think this game was a pretty good reflection of who we are. … The past few weeks, we’ve really been taking huge steps forward.”

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