Stymiest sparks Central No. 4 Red Devils oust Winthrop

CORINTH – It’s nice when plays work as designed, especially in the postseason.

Two well-executed penalty corners, as well as tight defense on the opposition’s corners, lifted the No. 4 Central field hockey team into the Eastern Maine Class C semifinals with a 3-1 quarterfinal win over No. 5 Winthrop Wednesday afternoon.

It’s just one more step for the 11-4 Red Devils as they go for their third straight Class C state title. Their next obstacle will be top seed Foxcroft Academy, which beat No. 8 Hall-Dale 5-1 Wednesday.

The Ponies won both regular-season games against Central. The teams will play Saturday for a spot in the regional final.

Central’s Kaitlyn Stymiest had a goal and two assists, with a goal and one of the assists coming on penalty corners.

It took a few tries, however, for the Devils to have success on their corners and were called for obstruction on an early penalty corner. Central made some changes – the Devils weren’t keen on revealing what they did differently – which resulted in two first-half goals.

Brooke Washburn inserted the ball for both corners. On the first, she passed up to Stymiest at the top of the circle, who shot it over to Sam Blanchard at the left post. Blanchard had an easy shot for the goal.

“[The change] opened it up more for a straighter shot,” Stymiest said.

Stymiest got her goal directly off the inserting pass from Washburn. This time, Stymiest took a high shot that went into the goal over a defensive player who was standing on the end line. The shot was high but wasn’t ruled dangerous because the defensive player wasn’t in front of the goalie.

The Red Devils were prepared for Winthrop ‘keeper Emily Vickerson, who had three saves on seven shots.

“We knew their goalie liked to come out further up in the circle,” said Central’s Rachel Trafton, who scored in the second half. “We practiced and practiced for that. We didn’t have many breakaways because their defense was tough but our offensive corners really did it for us.”

Winthrop’s Kelsey Ouellette tied it off an assist from Brianna Tupper with 13:19 left in the first half, but Stymiest’s goal with 7:56 remaining to put Central up for good.

The Ramblers (9-5-1) were 0-for-13 on penalty corners. Central’s flyers, especially Trafton, had too much speed for Winthrop to set up shots.

“I think it almost intimidated them when I was coming out [of the goal] on them,” Trafton said. “They bobbled the ball and they couldn’t make the shots I knew they wanted to make.”

Winthrop had nine penalty corners in the second half and maintained possession most of the period, but couldn’t break through. The Ramblers made changes to their alignment to generate more offense.

“We switched it up so that we had three forwards with one up, and then three in the next line,” Winthrop coach Sharon Coulton said. “We needed to do something to get back into it.”

Central made the most of its second-half possessions as Trafton added a goal with an assist from Stymiest.

Central’s Kara Voisine made her first start in goal since Sept. 24. She has a condition which causes her tongue and part of her throat to swell at certain times of the day. The condition is still present, but it hasn’t happened during a game or practice.

“I’m just happy to be back,” said Voisine, who made six saves on eight shots.