Epic final will produce everlasting memories

NEWPORT – The game began on Tuesday and finished up on Thursday.

No, it wasn’t a cricket match.

The Eastern Maine Class B field hockey final between Nokomis and visiting Winslow will be remembered for a long time to come.

After battling to a 1-1 tie in the first half on Tuesday, heavy rain covered the area and forced the game to be suspended.

Rain and wet field conditions prevented the game from being resumed on Wednesday so it started under cool, partly cloudy skies on Thursday.

Neither team scored in the second half or the two eight-minute, sudden-death overtimes which forced penalty corners. Sabrina Vaillancourt scored for Nokomis in the 15th set of corners and when Winslow couldn’t convert its 15th corner, the epic game was finally decided.

Nokomis will face Western Maine champ York in today’s Class B final at 2 p.m. at Hampden Academy.

Players on both teams used the word “weird” to describe the odd set of circumstances in Thursday’s game.

“It was weird. You knew you had 30 minutes to get something done [instead of 60],” Winslow’s Mindy Fowler said. “But we did get to work on things [in practice] based on what we saw in the first half. So it was kind of an advantage and a disadvantage.”

“It was kind of difficult playing 30 minutes instead of the full 60. But we knew we had to do it,” added Winslow’s Lindsay Gordon.

Nokomis’ Alison Berg concurred but added, “It was worth it.”

“We’ve been a better second half team all season. So we came into [Thursday] thinking we were playing the second half and not the first,” said Nokomis’ Maria Adams.

Winslow’s Emma Walters said there was a “lot of pressure” knowing it was essentially a 30-minute game.

“At the same time, we knew how they played. It was a good experience overall,” said Walters.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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