Whatever chances Bonny Eagle had in Saturday’s Class A state championship field hockey game, they had early.

After that, Skowhegan tightened their defense, increased their lead and walked away with their fifth consecutive state title, 4-0, at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

“The inexperience of my team showed today. They were in awe of playing here (and) of the fast field,” said Scots coach Patty Bourget. “I just think it was the experience over the inexperience.”

With quickness, agile stick work, pressure defense and a goalkeeper who was continually attacking the ball, the Indians (17-1) were relentless, topping Bonny Eagle (15-3) in the title game for the second year in a row.

“They always have a strong team.” Scots midfielder Kelly Johnson said. “They got that first goal and then took the momentum.”

Megan Smith, Skowhegan’s goalkeeper, is not one to wait for the action to come to her. She repeatedly charged out of her cage any time her opponents were able to get the ball inside the 16-yard semi-circle.

In the contest’s opening minutes, Smith did just that following a Bonny Eagle penalty corner, leaving her goal wide open. But Morgan Sanborn’s shot went wide. A short while later teammate Jamie Ketch’s attempt rolled across the unguarded net.

In between those offensive flurries, the Scots were able to neutralize the Indians on three straight penalty corners, and so it appeared – in the first dozen minutes – that Bonny Eagle was equal to the task at both ends of the field.

Then, midway through the first half, Skowhegan was awarded back-to-back corners, and on the second one they broke the scoreless tie.

Indians forward Samantha Gifford got the ball to midfielder Courtney Veinotte, who fired a straight shot from 15 yards out, past Scots keeper Meghan Ledoux.

Just a minute later, Smith’s aggressiveness left her goal wide open again, and Alyssa Dunn fired the ball on target for the back of the net. But defender Mallory Shute was there waiting. She stopped the shot just before the goal line – a save that put the kibosh on Bonny Eagle’s last solid opportunity to seize the momentum.

The score remained 1-0 for another nine minutes, but a loose ball just in front of Ledoux resulted in a Skowhegan penalty stroke with 6:49 on the clock. Shute was selected to take the shot and put it home from seven yards out.

“We work on penalty strokes every day and (Shute) has the best one,” said Indians coach Paula Doughty. “We haven’t had that many, but she’s scored on every one we’ve had.”

Down two at intermission, the Scots were forced to come out in the second half and put everything they had into generating some offense. Doing so opened up the field, allowing Veinotte to strike for her second goal four minutes in. Caitlyn Lancaster added a score in the waning minutes of the contest.

“Early in the game we had a lot of offensive opportunities,” Bonny Eagle forward Brittany Delaney said. “I just think we let down a tiny bit, and we let them get in our heads when it was 2-0.”

The loss was a disappointment for the Scots, who played all season motivated by the desire to get back to the title game and exact revenge on Skowhegan for their 3-2 win in last year’s championship game.

In the western Maine final two days earlier, Bonny Eagle looked like a team possessed, dominating top-seeded Sanford, 3-1, on the road. Jessica Spearin led the offense in that contest with a pair of goals.

The Indians, however, have been in the state final in eight of the past nine seasons and were not rattled at all.

“We played them last year and we knew what was coming,” said Veinotte. “We knew we had to come out strong.”

Bourget, her hair dyed green and pink by her players the night before the big game, was happy with the season that the Scots had put together.

“They played their hearts out today,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of kids.”