WELLS — York for years has been the gold standard for Western Maine Class B field hockey.

The Wildcats have the Regional titles ”“ five out of the last six ”“ as proof.

Its a run of success that their Route 1 neighbors Wells would like to both disrupt and enjoy for themselves.

Tuesday, the Warriors caught a glimpse of what life at the top could be like, when they upended the previously unbeaten Wildcats, 1-0, at Warrior Memorial Field.

Sabrina Link, who has developed a penchant for scoring big goals, netted the game’s lone marker 7:30 into the contest, while netminder Amber Rigdon made it stand up.

It all served to help lift Wells (6-2) to a rousing upset, plus a wealth of Heal Points.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m esctatic,” said senior midfielder Jill Sledzieski. “We played as a team, and that’s really all that matters. We really came together.”

Rigdon, who recorded eight saves, shared the emotional buzz.

“My adrenalin is rushing faster than it ever has before,” she said. “My defense had my back. I’m really excited.”

There was enough back watching to go around.

Rigdon, a first year starter as a senior, pulled off a pair of large scale saves in the early minutes while the game was still scoreless.

That gave the Warriors all the breathing room they needed before Link was able to bang home the go ahead goal.

“Amber was phenomenal,” said Link. “She stayed  strong the entire game. We obviously couldn’t have done it without her.”

Or without Link’s tally, for that  matter.

It came off a penalty corner play that didn’t roll according to plan.

“It actually went wrong,” Link admitted. “I was supposed to stop the ball and take the shot. But  one of the other girls and took the shot.”

York (7-1) goalie Amanda Kasbohm kicked out that attempt, but Link pounced on the rebound and rattled it in from five yards away.

It was just the third goal allowed by York all season.

That left the Warriors with almost 53 minutes to defend the oh-so-slim lead against a voracious York attack, a task that was anything but easy.

“That was unreal,” said Link. “Our focus was not on having the lead. It was on keeping on going hard. We knew with that goal that they were going to come at us harder.”

Said Sledzieski, “It was a difficult situation to be in. We kept telling ourselves that it was 0-0. That we had to score again. That we had to keep going after the ball. We told ourselves that to keep the motivation up. We had to keep going.”

And they did, right through to the final whistle.

“We need to stay strong and not play down to teams,” said Rigdon. “We need to play like this every game.”

The Warriors’ next game will be Saturday, at Lake Region.

— Contact Dan Hickling at [email protected].