Skowhegan, Waterville claim titles Indians blank Sanford; Panthers tip Black Bears

PORTLAND – Winning state championships never gets old, not even when a team has won seven Class A titles in a row like the Skowhegan field hockey team has.

And especially not the way in which the Indians earned a 2-0 victory over Sanford Monday evening at Fitzpatrick Stadium. It wasn’t a completely dominating win – Sanford put a lot of pressure on Skowhegan late in the game – but the fact that the Indians were vying for the crown yet again made it a special victory.

Skowhegan went 17-1 despite having just four players back from last year’s powerhouse team.

“I knew this was going to be a rebuilding year,” said coach Paula Doughty, who is in her 28th season at Skowhegan. “I knew we had a lot of hard-working kids. I’m tickled to death. I am. I’m more excited tonight than I’ve been in a long time.”

The Waterville field hockey team waited a lot longer for its state title, but the Panthers won their first since 1979 with a 2-1 victory over Maranacook of Readfield.

The state field hockey championships were on their second postponement date as games were rescheduled from Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 because of rainy weather. The Class C game between Telstar of Bethel and Foxcroft Academy will be played today at 6 p.m., also at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Seniors Melissa Hancock and Samantha Gifford each scored a first-half goal for Skowhegan, which had a 10-2 edge in shots on goal.

Gifford scored her goal with 11 minutes, 9 seconds left during a scrum in the penalty area that left her on the ground after her shot. Mallory Hancock, one of three triplets whose older sister is Melissa Hancock, sent the ball over to Gifford.

Gifford helped on Hancock’s goal, which came off a penalty corner. Gifford inserted the ball from left side of the cage, sending the ball straight ahead to Hancock at the top of the circle. Hancock took a slapshot, blasting the ball into the cage past Sanford goalie Mary Frances White with 1:53 left.

It went exactly as diagrammed, even though it took four corners before Skowhegan finally got one in.

“I kind of got reamed out a little bit about that and I was told to shoot at all costs, so that’s what I did,” Hancock said. “We just wanted to get a shot off, get a rebound and ditch, but luckily that one went in.”

Sanford coach Diana Walker said the Redskins have had trouble getting involved early in games all season.

“We said if this happens against Skowhegan it’s going to be really hard to come back at them,” she said. “That’s when they jumped up on us and we were playing catch-up the whole rest of the game. I think we put the pressure on them toward the end of the game but unfortunately it was a little bit too late. I think if we had been able to score one goal it would have been a whole different ballgame.”

Both Sanford shots came in the second half as the 17-1 Western Maine champions made their push. Sanford’s two corners, which both came with less than a minute left in the game, put a scare into Skowhegan.

“Hard work. Teamwork. Communication and everyone pulled through,” Gifford said of the keys to getting through the final minute. “… We knew we had to stay strong, keep our composure, get them out.”

White finished with eight saves and Skowhegan goalie Megan Hancock made two saves for the shutout.

In the Class B game, Waterville’s Chanelle Lansley scored the game-tying goal and was credited with the winning goal to help the Panthers (13-5) rally after the Black Bears (15-3) scored early.

She and Kayla Pellerin went 2-on-1 against Maranacook goalie Darcy Wilkins with 14 seconds remaining in the first half. Pellerin passed the ball to Lansley at the left post and Lansley hit it home to tie the game at 1-1.

“I was there for the pass right to my stick,” Lansley said.

As late as she scored in the first half, Lansley scored early in the second when she sent in a pass on a penalty corner 1:10 after halftime. She said the ball deflected off a Maranacook player’s stick.

The rest was left up to Waterville goalie Kristin Tormollan, who made nine saves on 10 shots and faced constant pressure in the second half.

“There was a lot of pressure, but we worked so hard for this,” Tormollan said. “It was a dream of ours. There was one little flurry in the end that went off like seven feet in every direction. That was a little scary. But our defense played really well.”

Siera Boucher scored the early goal for the Black Bears. Wilkins made five saves on seven shots.

Maranacook beat Waterville twice during Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference regular-season play.