Second-half surge boosts Stearns Achorn, Michaud lead undefeated Minutemen past Mattanawcook

LINCOLN – The front line of the Stearns field hockey team didn’t have much pop in the first half of Wednesday afternoon’s game against host Mattanawcook Academy. But in the second half, the Minutemen got a little offense and a little more defense, and it was enough to stay unbeaten.

Felicia Achorn scored the only goal of the game on a penalty corner and goalie Deanna Michaud stopped a penalty stroke as Stearns of Millinocket picked up a 1-0 victory over the Lynx at the high school field.

The win boosts the 2005 Eastern Maine Class C runner-up Minutemen to a 5-0 record, while MA falls to 2-2-1.

It also means Stearns gets the day off from practice after playing games two straight days.

“That kind of spunked us up,” Achorn said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a day off.”

The teams played through a scoreless, defensive-minded 30 minutes in the first half and went almost another 14 minutes of the second before Achorn finally converted on Stearns’ sixth penalty corner.

Achorn was standing on the right side of the play when she took the inserting pass from Amy Collinsworth. Achorn drove it hard at Lynx goalie Sarah French, who got her foot on the ball, but it deflected into the box for the score with 16 minutes, 10 seconds remaining.

The corner was designed to give Achorn a direct shot. Those hard hits, especially free hits from senior Hanna Somers, seemed to work well in generating offense for the Minutemen even though they weren’t able to score.

“I was just supposed to drive it in,” said Achorn, a senior who leads the team with five goals. “[The type of corner] all depends on if the flyer’s fast. If she is, then sometimes I pass it back. But I didn’t think she could get there in time.”

With the lead, all Stearns had to do was hold Mattanawcook, which pressured the Minutemen during the last 12 minutes of the game.

MA seemed set for a tie when the Lynx earned a penalty stroke after a 1-on-1 foul in the penalty circle with 4:34 left in regulation.

Mattanawcook junior Bree Hanscom took the shot, chipping it to her left. But Michaud saw the shot develop – and dug into her goal-keeping instincts – and flicked it safely away with her stick.

“We practice those a lot with Hanna Somers [taking the strokes],” said senior Michaud, who faced her first stroke of the season. “Bree is one of my friends so I kind of had a feeling which side she was going to go. But it’s the same side Hanna always goes to so I’m getting a little used to it.”

MA coach Dean Libbey said he picked Hanscom for the stroke because she’s one of the team’s strongest for the shot and had been on defense so she likely was less tired.

“I thought she may have had a little more strength,” he said. “But it was a good stroke, and it was a good save.”

Stearns safely killed off most of the final moments by holding the ball on offense until the final minute or so, when Mattanawcook was able to gain control of the ball and got a penalty corner.

Michaud stopped all six MA shots, while French and backup Vinny Nisen combined for seven saves on 10 shots.