MILLINOCKET – After graduating 12 seniors from last year’s Eastern Maine Class C championship team, Stearns field hockey coach Lori Lincoln did something she hadn’t done before in her seven years coaching in the program here.

She decided to put four freshmen on the varsity roster, and for one simple reason.

“They’re good. That’s why I took them,” Lincoln said after watching one of those first-year players score the only goal in a 1-0 Minutemen victory over rival Mattanawcook Wednesday afternoon at the Wallace M. Delahanty Athletic Fields.

Adriana Eurich’s decisive goal with 25 minutes, 21 seconds left in the second half not only lifted Stearns to the win, but also got the Minutemen to 5-0.

It was, however, their closest game of the season. Stearns was coming off a 3-1 win at Orono Tuesday, and senior captain Hilary Arsenault conceded that the team was a bit tired.

“First half they were slow,” Lincoln said, agreeing with her starting halfback. “Second half they played better.”

The Minutemen get a short break – they don’t have to play again until Saturday’s game at Brewer.

The play that allowed Eurich to score developed after a penalty corner, and highlighted something Lincoln has emphasize – staying with shots and being ready for anything.

“They’ve been told when they take corners to go right for the goal, rush in as hard as they can with their sticks down, beat the goalie pads and get in there and push it in to get another corner or a goal,” Lincoln said. “They’ve got to be there with their sticks down.”

Eurich was planted at the left goalpost when Amy Collinsworth crossed the ball to the freshman. MA goalie Sarah French had moved to the right, which opened space for Eurich to knock the ball into the cage.

“I was wishing on the corner that we could get a goal, so I was a little nervous,” Eurich said.

Mattanawcook (2-3) put on pressure late and had a free hit in the penalty circle with about eight seconds left in the game. Lynx coach Dean Libbey called a timeout to let his team know he wanted to try to create a penalty corner. Although MA got off a shot attempt, Stearns was able to clear the ball as the game ended.

“We were looking to get something off a corner and trying to put the whole team up there to try to get a shot,” Libbey said. “At least we executed [the shot]. … I thought it was a pretty good game. We started slow but once we figured out what we wanted to do with the ball we got things going a bit.”

Both teams had eight shots on goal. Stearns goalie Deanna Michaud made three saves and French had five.

Michaud also recorded her fourth shutout of the season, a statistic due in no small part to the Stearns defense, which graduated all of its starters last year. Lincoln adjusted by moving some of last year’s links, or midfielders, into the backfield.

“All the defense that we have this year played link last year, so our defense is used to playing up [in the midfield] and there’s a lot of defenders up in the midrange,” Arsenault said. “It’s easier for us to stop the ball rather than let it go through.”