Jackson, Ross lead Belfast past Winslow

BELFAST – Just as many field hockey teams do, the Belfast Lions practiced penalty strokes in practice Friday afternoon. In fact, the team had a stroke-off to find out who could make more shots.

Kate Ross and Kelsey Jackson tied in the practice, the day before a big showdown between the Lions and their KVAC rivals from Winslow High.

But in the pregame warmup Saturday morning, Ross was hotter. So Jackson deferred to the senior when Belfast had a chance to tie the game

Ross scored on the stroke to tie the game, and the two standouts hooked up for an exciting overtime goal that gave Belfast a rare victory 2-1 over the previously undefeated Black Raiders.

The game occurred several hours before the Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions where Belfast freshman runner Joe Diprete-DiGioia died.

The Lions were a quality team with a 6-2 record going into the game, but anytime Winslow loses, it’s an upset. Ross figures Belfast hasn’t beaten the Raiders, now 9-1-1, since her sophomore year.

“You always kind of look to this game throughout the season, like, yeah, Winslow at home,” Ross said.

“We wanted to give them their first loss,” Jackson added.

Coach Allen Holmes’ goals for the Lions were a bit simpler. After the Black Raiders won the season’s first matchup 2-0, he just wanted to more offense.

He admitted to some nerves after Winslow standout Laura Pomerleau scored from just inside the circle with four minutes and three seconds left before halftime.

“We wanted to make sure we took advantage of our chances, because they’re stingy,” Holmes said. “When they scored, I was afraid of what would happen because we’re young. But I was pretty confident [on the penalty stroke]. The two people who have been stroking in practice have been pretty hot.”

Belfast evened the score 12 minutes into the second half. The Lions were awarded a stroke because Winslow goalie Cierra Byrne tucked the ball under her glove during a mad scramble in front of the Raiders’ goal.

After a brief conversation in which Jackson told Ross to take the shot, Ross chipped the ball high and into the goal.

“Kate was doing a lot better on her strokes [before the game] than I was,” Jackson said.

Each team has seven players on the field for overtime, and Jackson and Ross were two of them.

Jackson brought the ball toward the goal, drawing out Byrne. She sent a dead-on square pass across the circle to Ross, whose wide-open shot went in almost three minutes into the eight-minute overtime.

“[Byrne] came out real far because it was a 2-on-1 and I just got it past her,” Ross said. “Kelsey beat that last defender and it was wide-open.”

“We overplayed a ball and they took advantage of it,” Winslow coach Lori Loftus said.

Littlefield made five saves on eight shots, while Byrne had three saves on seven shots.

The Raiders were without offensive standout Beth LaFountain, who was sick. LaFountain scored both goals in the Raiders’ first game against the Lions.

“It does change our game but I think the people we put in are just as strong,” Loftus said. “We just didn’t play well. The defense didn’t play well, the offense didn’t take advantage of opportunities. We didn’t do the little things.”