MacPheters provides FA win Ponies eliminate John Bapst in sixth penalty corner attempt

BANGOR – No one wanted the overtime and penalty corners to end in Thursday’s Eastern Maine Class B field hockey quarterfinal more than the Foxcroft Ponies – and not because of the cold, windy, rainy weather.

No. 4 Foxcroft knows what it’s like to lose close playoff games. The Ponies were undefeated last year before falling in a quarterfinal to the No. 8 seed in penalty corners.

Foxcroft’s Amanda MacPheters made sure there wasn’t going to be an upset this time around as the Ponies faced No. 5 John Bapst. She scored on a rebound in the Ponies’ sixth try at a penalty-corner goal to lift Foxcroft to a 3-2 win at Husson College’s Winkin Complex.

“We weren’t going to let it happen again,” MacPheters said of last year’s loss to Erskine of South China. “We were determined not to let it happen again. We knew we could do it.”

Foxcroft, now 11-3-1, will travel to No. 1 Winslow Saturday for a semifinal game against the three-time defending state champion Black Raiders.

The Crusaders of Bangor finishes the season at 9-6, including a win over the Ponies earlier this season.

Foxcroft and John Bapst were tied at 2-2 through two 30-minute regulation periods and two 8-minute overtimes. Each team fields seven players in the sudden-death extra periods, which makes for a faster game with an emphasis on offense. Still, no one scored.

Neither team could slip in a goal through five chances per squad until MacPheters gathered in a rebound that came off the pads of Bapst goalie Julia Sleeper. MacPheters shot the ball from the right of the box and the Ponies erupted in cheers.

“We worked on [penalty corners] in practice yesterday,” said John Bapst coach Gina Schuck, whose Crusaders had never been involved in a game with penalty corners. “I thought with our defense we’d be fine.”

Indeed, Bapst’s defense was solid as Foxcroft dominated on offense, especially in overtime. Harita Reddy, Tamlyn Frederick and Rolinda Mitchell were among those working hard up front. Mitchell, who was credited with the first goal of the game on a scramble, suffered a knee injury in overtime.

“We dominated this game and we’ve always been taught to capitalize, but sometimes we lay back and then that’s when we get into overtime,” Reddy said.

John Bapst’s Ashley Freeman had a breakaway late, too.

After Mitchell scored, Reddy gave the Ponies a 2-0 lead.

Reddy, one of Foxcroft’s top forwards, sat out a few minutes of the first half after she was hit in the head with a stick. Coach Gene Philpot bandaged the left side of Reddy’s forehead and the junior scored about 30 seconds after re-entering the game for a 2-0 lead.

The Crusaders scored with about three minutes left in the first half to make it 2-1 and then tied it up with 18:22 left in regulation. Freeman, a sophomore, scored both goals with the second score coming off a pass from Renee Rioux.

“I’m happy with the way the girls came back,” Schuck said.

Both teams had 12 shots. Sleeper made nine saves and Foxcroft’s Ashley Smith had 10.

The game was played on the artificial turf at Husson because of a bad field conditions at Foxcroft, which was the home team.