THORNDIKE – Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield senior central midfielder Ali Ross has options when she receives Hollie Higgins’ penalty corner. Option one is sliding the ball over to a teammate standing to her left. Option two is shoot it.

Ross selected option two in MCI’s Eastern Maine Class B schoolgirl field hockey semifinal Saturday morning and it proved to be the right one as she scored with 4:14 remaining to supply the Huskies with a 2-1 triumph over host Mount View.

Mount View had beaten MCI twice during the regular season. It is the second year in a row MCI has avenged two regular-season defeats to Mount View with a playoff win over the Mustangs.

Fourth seed MCI, 10-6, will face 11-5 Winslow, the second seed, on Wednesday. Top seed Mount View concluded a 10-4-1 season.

“It was supposed to be a pass left but their defense was coming up on my left side,” explained Ross. “So I just tried to hit it hard.”

MCI coach Julie Treadwell said, “no matter what option we call, she has the option of putting it on goal if she feels that’s the better option. She has the decision-making on that. She made a great decision, obviously, and she made a good, hard shot, which helps.”

Ross’ shot from the top of the circle cleanly beat Mount View goalie Jenna Drummond to the short side.

“I didn’t see it,” said Drummond.

The evenly played game featured momentum swings as each team manufactured spurts of dominance that would last anywhere from five to nine minutes.

Mount View senior forward Layla Vaughan opened the scoring with only 1:48 left in the first half when she sliced across the circle from left to right and steered Chelsea Caler’s long ball around MCI goalie Amanda Quint.

But the Huskies answered as time elapsed in the half. Penalty corners are allowed to be played out even if time has elapsed.

Higgins took a penalty corner and the ball bounded around the circle. The ball went off the sticks of Ross and Meredith Susi to Kerri George at the far post and she one-timed a sizzling shot inside the far post from 8 yards out.

“I got really mad [after Mount View scored]. Maybe that’s where it [the velocity on her shot] came from,” said George. “I know I have to take a hard shot in that situation and I try to get them off quickly.”

Treadwell said, “We showed good perseverance. After they scored the first one, we came right back. We worked together and didn’t give up.”

Mount View coach Lisa Gibbs said her team “felt they had done their job” on the corner but they hadn’t.

“And you can’t do that against a tough team like MCI,” said Gibbs.

Quint finished with three saves on nine shots while Drummond wound up with two stops on 12 shots.

Both coaches agreed that there was little to choose between their two teams.

“It was a very even game, obviously. They had a good team. They’re ranked number one. The big key is we have a little more experience,” said Treadwell.

“There wasn’t any dominance by either team,” said Gibbs, who will lose just three players to graduation. “It was which team had the momentum going at the time.”

Speedy and elusive Lindsey Hunter and Vaughan created all kinds of problems for MCI with their flank play but the Huskies were very effective in transition and quickly got numbers into their attack.

“They’re a very good team. They gave us a lot of competition,” said Ross.

Drummond said, “The third time is the hardest to beat a team.”