Fogarty paces win by Dexter Tigers hold off Telstar for 44th straight victory

DEXTER – The Dexter field hockey team has become accustomed to all of this championship stuff. After all, the Tigers have won two straight state Class C titles. They had a 44-game winning streak and were unbeaten in their last 52 games with just a lone tie in the mix.

That’s why after dominating Telstar of Bethel and taking a 2-0 lead into the final 10 minutes of their Eastern Maine Class C championship game Wednesday, the Tigers didn’t panic when the unthinkable happened and the Rebels scored a goal.

“It was a wakeup call,” the Tigers’ Amanda Pullen said. “We weren’t as focused as we [had been]. We got up two and it was, like, ‘Oh, we could win.’ But then they came back and it’s like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to buckle down.'”

Buckle down they did. The Tigers controlled the final nine minutes of the game, much as they had the first 50 minutes, to edge the Rebels 2-1. Dexter, now 17-0 and the owners of a 45-game winning streak, will meet Hall-Dale of Hallowell, a 2-1 winner over St. Dominic’s of Auburn, for the state title Saturday in Gorham at 2 p.m.

Sophomore forward Meagan Fogarty figured in both Dexter goals.

She handled the restart of a penalty corner with 17:13 remaining in the first half, sending the ball to senior Michia McKusick. McKusick’s hard shot deflected off a stick and past Telstar goalie Heather Gionet.

Fogarty’s goal came with 15:03 left in the game and was the result of a sustained attack by the Tigers in which they peppered Gionet with shots.

Fogarty finally slipped the ball into the goal following a wild scramble in front of Gionet. Holly Mayo picked up an assist on the play.

“We weren’t clearing the ball out, and when we did, we didn’t follow it out,” Telstar coach Gail Wight said.

The Tigers kept pressure on the Rebel defense throughout the game, outshooting the visitors 24-7.

“We were just trying to keep control of the ball. Keep it away from them. Just push up as much as we could and keep it in our offensive end,” Dexter junior Brittany Veazie said.

The Rebels’ breakthrough came in the form of freshman Kayla Mills, who after a breakout found herself all alone in front of the goal with Dexter goalie Cindy Koscielny sprawled on the ground. Mills calmly flipped the ball over Koscielny with 9:24 left in the game to draw the Rebels to within one.

“These girls constantly have to play up. Every time someone plays them. They base their whole season around how they do against Dexter. I thought we played well. We controlled the game,” Dexter coach Margaret Veazie said.

Koscielny made two saves for the Tigers while Gionet stopped six shots for 8-9 Telstar.