HAMPDEN – It was a day of firsts here Saturday as Hampden Academy hosted a state championship field hockey tripleheader at the Weatherbee School athletic complex.

Skowhegan became the first team to win eight straight state titles, York notched its first win in five state final appearances, and North Yarmouth Academy became the first team to beat a Margaret Veazie-coached team in a state field hockey contest.

Skowhegan edged Scarborough 2-1 in double overtime to take the Class A game, York scored a goal early and made it stand up for a 1-0 win over Nokomis of Newport in Class B, and NYA won its first state crown in 14 years – 2-1 in overtime over Dexter in Class C.

CLASS A – Skowhegan’s Indians saw fortune reverse itself in 13 seconds, as they went from watching Scarborough seemingly set to score the winning goal on an empty Indians’ net to Skowhegan’s Mallory Hancock scoring the game-winner with 5:40 left in double overtime.

“They were in the right place at the right time and took advantage of a break,” said Scarborough coach Maria Gedaro, whose Red Storm finishes 16-2. “They know what to do with the ball in every situation and that’s probably why they’ve won so many of these games.”

After Indians goalie Megan Hancock (one of the Hancock triplets) came out to cut down the angle on a potential shot, she fell trying to get the ball and a Scarborough player wound up with the ball and an empty net. Makayla Hancock lunged to block the shot, did so, and came up with the ball in the process.

She wasted little time speeding up the field with it, blowing by three opposing players and covering about 60 yards unchecked.

“I’m always behind the goalie anyway and when it comes in, I’m ready to stop it and take it out if I can,” said Makayla Hancock. “I didn’t expect to be that open. I expected someone to come up on me and when they did, I just passed it right and she got it.”

“She” was Mallory Hancock, the other triplet, who faked right and pushed the ball into the left corner for the goal.

“It’s kind of like we have a sense of where we are all the time, so it makes things a little easier,” said the junior forward. “I knew she was going to be right there to pass it to me.”

Skowhegan scored first with 1:13 left in the first half as Nicole Sevey scored on a shot from the right side after taking a pass from sister Erin Sevey, who was stationed near the middle of the circle.

Scarborough tied it 2:13 into the second half when Jackie Morin took a feed from Ellie Morin and slapped a shot in from 15 feet away.

Megan Hancock made four saves on seven Scarborough shots while Storm goalie Jordi Saunders stopped two of four.

Class B – The smallest player on the field came up with the biggest play as Ali Graziano scored the only goal from the front of a mobile scrum in front of the net with 23:17 left in the first half.

“Steph Loasney took a perfect shot on and it was deflected back, so I got the rebound and kept pushing it through the defense in the middle of the crowd,” Graziano said. “Maybe being down lower is an advantage for me sometimes.”

The 14-3-1 Wildcats dominated the game from an offensive perspective, outshooting the Warriors 12-2.

“They were switching fields a lot more than we expected, so that spread us out more than we would have liked to be,” said Nokomis coach Katie Thompson. “They did an excellent job with that and getting by us.

“We like to use the give-and-go in closer proximity, but they weren’t allowing us to do that by spreading us out.”

Goalie Maria Adams turned in a solid effort with nine saves for the 14-2-2 Warriors.

York’s Chelsea Hutchings got the shutout with one save.

“They had a lot of defense in the circle,” Thompson said. “At times, it seemed their entire team was there and that prevented our forwards from getting good shots on net.”

Class C – Dexter was unbeaten and 5-for-5 in state finals under Veazie. The Panthers hadn’t even been in a state final since 1994 and were determined to make up for lost time.

Dexter’s Sam Conway played a standout game in goal, making several highlight-reel saves en route to eight on 11 shots, but the last one was too tough for even her to stop.

Frances Leslie took advantage of the overtime’s 7-on-7 format, getting free for a breakaway at midfield and outrunning everyone to the net. She shot it cleanly into the left side with 1:40 left in OT.

“I just kind of pushed it forward from about 10 feet out,” Leslie said. “I think I was actually shocked when it went in.”

The 16-2 Panthers scored first when Kylie Dalbec slapped a shot from the right side of the net into the left corner with 25:16 left in the second half. Dexter tied it 17 minutes later as Danielle Mower scored from the right side off an assist from Crissy Mountain on a give-and-go play off a corner.

The Panthers lived up to their nickname, blowing by the Tigers with a mix of speed and athleticism that forced Dexter to change its strategy.

“Our girls wanted the big hit because usually no one can stop that, but it was when we finally went back to the small game is where we got some control again,” Veazie said.

Hayley Bright made three saves on five Dexter shots.

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