Now senior captains of their respective high school teams, cousins Ella Duchette (left) and Lydia Hiltz have been playing field hockey against each other since elementary school. Courtesy of Danielle Hiltz

As a goalie on the Brunswick field hockey team, Ella Duchette is typically more focused on stopping the ball in front of her rather than recognizing who is shooting it.

So when someone from Mt. Ararat put one past her during a Sept. 24 overtime game, Duchette had to double-check who it was. Instead of asking a teammate or coach, Duchette found her cousin, opposing midfielder Lydia Hiltz.

“Did you score on me?”

The cousins hugged and Hiltz confirmed what Duchette suspected. With an assist from Sarah Middleton, the Mt. Ararat senior captain squeezed a shot past the Brunswick senior captain with 6:47 left in overtime to give the visiting Eagles a 2-1 victory.

“There’s not too (many) hard feelings after,” Hiltz said before pausing. “Well, you’ll have to ask her.”

“She keeps scoring on me in overtime,” Duchette said, recalling the 2022 Class A North quarterfinals in which Hiltz scored the game-winning goal with 4.4 seconds left. “We have this little war toward each other, that’s like, ‘You gotta stop scoring on me.’…I’m never sour. I don’t hold grudges, but when she scored on me in the sophomore year double overtime, I was very annoyed at her.”

On Monday, Oct. 21, Duchette’s Dragons will have one last chance to exact revenge from Hiltz’ Eagles. Familial bragging rights will be up for grabs in the regular season finale in Topsham —  and so, too, could be a Brunswick playoff berth.

The top eight teams in Class A North qualify for the postseason, with the top four hosting quarterfinal games. Mt. Ararat (9-3) is fourth in Heal points, and likely has secured at least one home playoff game. Brunswick (2-8-2) is on the outside looking in at the playoffs. A victory over the Eagles, combined with some help elsewhere, could push the Dragons into the postseason.

Duchette (127 saves in 2024) and Hiltz (six goals in 2024) will play big roles in the game.

“Someone’s got to win, so it’s kind of fun when it comes down to the two of us, ” Duchette said.

The enthusiasm doesn’t make the game any less of a stressful watch for the rest of the family.

Brunswick goalie Ella Duchette makes one of her 14 saves against Freeport on Sept. 14. Courtesy of Emily Bates

“My grandparents, sometimes they’ll decide one of them will wear Brunswick apparel, or one of them will wear Mt. Ararat apparel,” Hiltz said. “They go into it (saying) ‘We want both of you guys to have a good game. We’re not cheering for anyone specific.’ So I think they try to stay as mediators. But my mom (Danielle Hiltz) is very big on the Brunswick-Mt. Ararat rivalry.”

Danielle Hiltz, an assistant coach with the Eagles, isn’t cheering for a 0-0 draw, but she does acknowledge it can be difficult to celebrate one team without taking away from the other.

“My husband and I always say, there’s just a little bit of heartbreak with whatever team wins,” she said.

She jokes that she sometimes can’t speak to her brother, Andre Duchette, after games, but the two sides of the family are still close despite the competition, which pauses during the winter when they visit a shared ski home, but then returns once lacrosse season begins.

Mt. Ararat’s Lydia Hiltz, left, drives with the ball against Freeport’s Reed Proscia. Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Portland Press Herald

“I call them the ‘Three Musketeers’,” Danielle Hiltz said of Lydia, Ella and Maddy Duchette, a defender for Brunswick before graduating last spring. “They’ve always been that way, super close, and it’s just such a cool thing. I didn’t have any sisters growing up, so it was so special for me to see that relationship that the three of them have together.”

The players understand what’s at stake Monday. They know one of them will likely walk away disappointed.

“The season has flown by. I feel like I was just a freshman playing, like I can’t believe I’m down to my last few home games on my home turf,” Hiltz said. “I really just want my team to be intense. I always have a goal for myself to be as intense as possible, give 110% on that field and yeah, try and get these last few wins.”

“She’ll always play her hardest, and I’ll always play my hardest,” Duchette added. “That’s another thing. We always play our 100% even if it’s toward each other. We still love each other, but I’m not gonna try to let one of her goals in just because she’s my cousin. And she’s not gonna not score on me because she’s my cousin.”