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PORTLAND – The Belfast field hockey team is loaded with experienced scorers, which is a big reason the Lions haven’t lost a game in two years.
But Belfast’s brightest spark in the postseason has come in the form of a sophomore bench player.
Briana Curry, who scored a late goal in the Lions’ Eastern Maine Class B quarterfinal win over Rockland and added a key score against John Bapst of Bangor in the regional title game, continued her heroics in Saturday morning’s Class B state championship game at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
The sophomore poked home a rebound with 9 minutes, 6 seconds left in the second half to break a tie and power the Lions to a 2-1 victory over York for Belfast’s second straight title, the fifth for 33-year coach Allen Holmes, and the Lions’ 36th straight victory.
In the Class A final, Skowhegan continued a streak of its own with a 4-0 win over Bonny Eagle of Standish.
Courtney Veinotte scored two goals for the Indians, who became the first Maine high school field hockey team to win five straight state championships.
In the Class B game, the Wildcats (13-3-2) were looking to avenge their 2-1 loss to Belfast (18-0) in the 2004 title game.
“We had a lot of pressure coming in and we knew it was going to be a tough game, but we were ready for it,” said Brittney Cummings, who scored the first goal of the game and has had plenty of big moments herself this year. “They play a long ball, so we were prepared to adjust to their style of play.”
Both teams played evenly in the first half, and the game was tied 1-1 at halftime. Cummings scored the first goal on a cross from Brooke Reed with 21:14 left. York’s Carie Rovnak tied it with an assist from Michaela Franey with 6:05 remaining.
The Lions were able to generate more pressure after halftime, and Cummings had a good shot with 16:30 left that was saved by York goalie Brittny Barrett (her only save on four shots).
Belfast didn’t get off another shot until Curry’s goal, which started with a Kelsey Jackson cross. Jill Ross got the ball and took a shot, which came off Barrett’s pads and rolled to Curry for the tip-in.
“We needed a score,” Curry said. “Going into the second half, it was whoever wants this more is going to win.”
Curry hadn’t been in the game up to that point. It was a similar situation to what happened in Thursday’s Eastern Maine final, when Curry came in for Reed late in the first half and scored about two minutes later.
“I was kind of nervous when coach called me off the bench [Saturday],” Curry said.
Rovnak, York’s second-leading scorer, got off the last shot of the game as the Wildcats had a flurry of six penalty corners at the end. But Belfast goalie Lizzy Anderson kicked the ball out of the circle as time ran out.
“York had really good corners,” said Anderson, who made three saves on six shots. “My heart took a lot on that one. I was really nervous.”
The Wildcats wanted either Rovnak or Franey, their leading scorers, to have the final shot.
“I was just planning on shooting and hoping,” Rovnak said. “Their goalie’s amazing, but we were hoping to get a shot or a chip for the ball to go in.”
In the Class A game, Veinotte’s slap shot off a penalty corner gave Skowhegan the lead with 16:47 left in the first half, and Mallory Shute’s penalty stroke about seven minutes before halftime put the game out of reach.
The Indians finished with a 17-1 record and the program’s eighth state crown.
“I was just amazed at how well they played. I really was,” said Skowhegan coach Paula Doughty, who was coaching in her 11th state final with the Indians. “I was afraid because they were younger that they’d fold, and they didn’t. They played with a ton of maturity.”
The game was a rematch of last year’s state final, a 3-2 win for Skowhegan. The Scots (15-3) graduated most of their starters from the 2004 team.
“I think the inexperience of my team, having all new kids, showed today. … I just think it was the experience over the inexperience,” Bonny Eagle coach Patty Bourget said.
Veinotte scored on another hard shot off a cross from Rebecca Roy less than five minutes into the second half. Caitlyn Lancaster came off the bench to score the final goal.
“We just knew we had to come out hard and take as many shots as we can,” Veinotte said. “We came out like we should have and shot all day.”
But it wasn’t all offense for the Indians. Skowhegan goalie Megan Smith stopped a Kelly Johnson shot on a Bonny Eagle penalty corner early in the game, and then Shute came up with a huge save when an Alyssa Dunn shot got past Smith after another corner.
“We were just trying to keep them from scoring,” Shute said. “That was all I could do at that point.”
Smith made five saves on seven shots, while Bonny Eagle’s Meghan Ledoux stopped two of 10 shots.
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