CUMBERLAND—Freeport’s reigning Class B state champion field hockey team is two-thirds into its week of reckoning and it’s a case of so far, so good for the Falcons.
Wednesday afternoon, two days after a pivotal interclass victory at Mt. Ararat, Freeport traveled to take on dangerous Greely and thanks to a fast start, kept the good times rolling.
The Falcons earned a penalty corner in the game’s first minute and off it, just 74 seconds into the contest, junior standout Emily Groves scored from senior captain Sophie Bradford to put the visitors in front to stay.
Freeport then doubled its lead late in the second quarter, as junior Reed Proscia scored off another corner.
The Falcons weren’t able to convert any more of their myriad chances into goals, but they also held the Rangers at bay and went on to a 2-0 victory.
Freeport improved to 10-0 on the season with its 18th consecutive victory dating back to last year and in the process, dropped Greely to 4-6.
“These games, you just want to make it through,” said Falcons coach Marcia Wood. “We didn’t want to be panicking at halftime with it 0-0 and have them score and have to play catch-up. We wanted to score early and not worry too much.”
Soaring
Freeport’s golden age arrived in 2022, when it got to the Class B state final for the first time, then the Falcons took it to another level last fall with the program’s first state title. With just about everyone back from that team, Freeport entered the 2024 campaign as the favorite and has continued to dazzle.
After rallying to edge host Yarmouth in a regional final rematch in the opener, 2-1, the Falcons blanked visiting York (7-0), host Poland (7-0), visiting Brunswick (3-0), host Lake Region (4-0) and visiting Greely (2-0). After surrendering just its second goal all season in a 4-1 win at York, Freeport shut out visiting Poland (9-0) and host Mt. Ararat (5-0) in its most recent action.
Greely, meanwhile, has steadily improved to the point where it’s a dangerous foe.
The Rangers began with a 4-0 loss at St. Dom’s, then bounced back to edge host Lake Region in double-overtime (2-1) before blanking visiting Wells (5-0). After a 2-1 home loss to powerhouse Yarmouth, Greely fell at reigning Class B champion Freeport (2-0), at home to York in an overtime thriller (2-1) and at Fryeburg Academy (1-0) before bouncing back with a 1-0 overtime win over visiting Cape Elizabeth and a 4-3 home victory over Lake Region.
In the teams’ first meeting this fall, juniors Lizalyn Boudreau and Liza Flower each scored once for the Falcons while senior goalie Mya Vickerson stopped a dozen shots for the Rangers.
Wednesday, Greely hoped to beat Freeport for the first time since Oct. 10, 2017 (2-1, in double-overtime), but instead, the Falcons made it 13 wins in the teams’ last 14 meetings (with the other ending in a tie).
Thanks to a hot start.
Freeport got possession quickly and worked the ball into the circle and earned a penalty corner before the game was a minute old.
Senior captain Anna Maschino then inserted the ball, it came to Bradford, last year’s playoff hero, and Bradford crossed the ball in front to Groves, who finished for the 13th time this season, making it 1-0 with 13:46 to play in the opening quarter.
“Greely has done a very nice job of not letting teams score on them, so we needed to make sure we scored early,” said Wood. “We’ve talked about what to do differently on grass. It takes the girls awhile to adjust to that because they want to move the ball and dribble down the field. I told them it wouldn’t be a dribbly game, but a stop-pass kind of game.”
That would be the Falcons’ lone shot or corner of the first period, but the lead held up as they denied the Rangers’ lone chance, a corner, with junior Gwen Dunham breaking up the play.
Midway through the second quarter, Freeport amped up the pressure and it earned three corners in less than two minutes, with the third one being the charm.
With 4:24 on the first half clock, it would be Proscia rattling the cage to make it 2-0.
“A fast start was really important,” Proscia said. “We wanted to score early in a grass game and hold on. We all just keep our sticks down in the circle and find our position. That’s what we’ve worked on in practice. I just knew where the ball was going to be.”
“We tried not to let the grass faze us, but it was in the back of our minds,” said Maschino. “It was important to come out early and score, so we didn’t have to panic. What worked well on corners was getting passes out and knowing it might be bouncy ahead of time. You have to improvise.”
The Falcons had looks in the third period, but Vickerson denied Flower on a deflection of a Groves shot, Vickerson robbed Groves on the doorstep, then she stymied Flower again.
Greely’s best chance to score came early in the fourth quarter, as it got a pair of corners which resulted in shots.
The first, just a minute in, saw sophomore Evelyn Stewart deflect junior Anna Hendry’s shot just wide.
Then, with 11:19 to go, sophomore Maya Tracey fired a blast from up top that Freeport junior Maddie Kryzak knocked away with her stick.
Neither team could score from there and the Falcons went on to a 2-0 victory.
The Falcons wound up with an 8-1 shots advantage, took 13 corners to the Rangers’ three and got one save from Kryzak.
Greely got six saves from Vickerson and hung tough throughout.
“I’m really proud of our defense today,” said Rangers coach Burgess LePage. “It feels great to have held them. We worked on our marking and minimized their threats. Grass is such an equalizer with their speed. Now, we feel frustrated to have not put the ball in the cage. We had a couple of nailbiters. It almost came together, but not quite.”
Down the stretch
Greely (now ranked seventh in the Class B South Heal Points standings) is idle until next Tuesday when Poland pays a visit. The Rangers also have games remaining at Traip Academy, at a very talented Gray-New Gloucester/North Yarmouth Academy co-op squad and at Cape Elizabeth.
“My players are feeling all kinds of things,” LePage said. “Some of them are sad about not putting the ball in today and some felt like we won and we’ll use that and move on to figure out how we do in the tournament. We’ve come a long way from last year. Last year, the idea of playing Freeport was terrifying, but today, I’d be excited to play them again. We need to connect offensively and get our momentum going so we can bring that into the tournament.”
Freeport (which remains in first in Class B South) has a huge showdown upcoming Saturday at home against undefeated Leavitt, which is the last team to beat the Falcons, last Oct. 2. The Falcons then host GNG/NYA next Wednesday and close with games at home versus Cape Elizabeth and at Fryeburg Academy.
“We’ve been growing together and playing together for so many years and we all want to get another shot to be state champs,” said Maschino. “It’s all about how we play together as a team.”
“We were looking forward to some competitive games,” Proscia said. “We’re definitely looking for a test with playoffs coming up. These are good teams for us to play. We have a target, but we’ve played well with that I think. It’s helped us.”
“I’m so excited for that (Leavitt) game,” Wood added. “It’s hard to see (Class B North) having such competitive games and we haven’t. We need some tough competition. They’re still a pretty quiet group, so I don’t really get much of their feelings, but I could see Monday they were in it to win it. They might be a little nervous, but they’re ready for some exciting games, to get pushed and to see what happens.”
Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.
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