LISBON

Julie Petrie gathered her Greyhounds around her with 9:35 remaining in the first half of a scoreless high school field hockey game against Dirigo on Wednesday.

This was not a pep talk. Instead, this was a good old fashion chewing out, as Petrie remarked that she was tired of “giving the same old speech.”

The talk seemed to work, as moments later Chase Collier scored Lisbon’s only goal in a 1-0 Mountain Valley Conference win against the Cougars in a rematch of last season’s Class C South quarterfinal, won by the Greyhounds, then the upstart No. 8 seed facing the top team in Dixfield.

“That was super important, and sometimes we just need that extra kick to get going,” said Petrie of her talk and Collier’s game-winning tally. “Chase put the team on her shoulders and led the way. I was frustrated, but we are still working on things, like crossing the ball better.”

Collier’s goal started innocently enough. She gained control in her defensive zone and faced three Dirigo defenders on her way toward the Cougars’ end. She cut left, then right before breaking in on goaltender Morgan Morrow, who came out to cut down the angle. But, Collier’s shot found the inside of the left post.

“I was hoping it wasn’t going to be the only goal, but that one slight second working up against their defense worked for us,” said Collier of her goal that came with 7:45 remaining in the first half. “We know that we need to stay pumped up. For us, it is about trying over and over again. It took us some time to do that.”

For Dirigo, it was another tough loss to Lisbon. However, head coach Gretchen Curtis was far from disappointed in her young team’s efforts against the now 4-1 Greyhounds.

“We are really young this year, starting three freshmen, but they were able to stick with Lisbon,” said Curtis of her 2-3 Cougars. “Even losing this game, I think this will help us. We stuck with them.”

“I think we definitely pushed ourselves today,” said Dirigo forward Sophia Jaques. “We need to come back harder, and I thought we did that. Yes, we wanted to get back at them for last year, but we just want to get better. We hopefully gained some confidence today.”

Neither team produced much of a scoring chance over the game’s opening 20 minutes. Prior to Petrie’s team talk, Dirigo found an opening and nearly jumped ahead. Jaques managed to control the bouncing ball just inside the 25 and let loose a hard, low shot. Lisbon goaltender Mikaylia Harnden calmly stuck her left pad out and deflected the shot away to keep the game scoreless.

Even after Lisbon’s goal, Dirigo pushed back, getting a solid scoring chance from Grace Timberlake. Harnden finished with five first-half saves with Dirigo holding a 3-2 edge in penalty corners.

The second half was a different story. This time Lisbon owned possession, launching 13 shots on frame. Morrow made 11 saves, with defenseman Alexa Varnum twice keeping a shot out of the goal to keep her team one-goal behind.

Lisbon’s Kate Philbrick continually shut off Dirigo’s attempts at transitioning forward, and on the rare occasions the Cougars advanced to midfield, Greyhound defenders Emily Brewer, Shelby Cyr and Morgan Fenderson shut the door and forced Dirigo back on defense.

“We are just chipping away and taking it game by game,” said Petrie. “You have to dig, fight for every point that you can get. Dirigo is always good. This is a good win.”

Lisbon finished with a 17-6 shot advantage, and on the strength of a 6-1 edge in second half penalty corners, led that category too, 8-4.

Harnden had six saves, while Morrow turned aside 14 Lisbon shots.

Lisbon 1, Dirigo 0

At Lisbon

Dirigo		—	0	0	—	0
Lisbon		—	1	0	—	1

Goal — (L) Chase Collier. Shots on goal — Lisbon 17, Dirigo 6. Saves — Morgan Morrow 14; (L) Mikaylia Harnden 6. Penalty corners — Lisbon 8, Dirigo 4. Records — Lisbon 4-1, Dirigo 2-3. Up next for the Greyhounds — Friday at Oak Hill, 4 p.m.

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