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SCARBOROUGH — On a foggy Tuesday night at Scarborough High, visibility became an issue. So the white field hockey balls were replaced with fluorescent orange.

Whether she whacks a white or an orange ball, Emily Sawchuck’s shots are tough to block.

Sawchuck scored four goals to lead fourth-seeded Cheverus to a 5-2 win over seventh-ranked Bonny Eagle in the Western Class A field hockey final.

Sarah LaQuerre also scored and Anna McDonough had two assists as fourth-seeded Cheverus won a first regional title.

The Stags (13-4) advanced to the Class A state final Saturday at the University of Maine. Cheverus will play Skowhegan, a 1-0 winner over Messalonskee in the Eastern Maine final.

Bonny Eagle (10-6) took the early lead. The Scots pushed the ball down the right side and centered it. Chelsea Yates scored at 4:23. Peyton Dostie got the assist.

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“We came out too excited and lost everything we worked on,” Cheverus Coach Amy McMullin said. “I just said, ‘the nerves are gone. We need to come out and make a statement.’ “

Cheverus needed to keep the ball from the speedy Dostie, and did so by dominating the rest of the game.

“Our goal all playoffs is to keep it on our offensive end,” McMullin said.

Cheverus took control, constantly pushing the attack.

Defenders Taylor Witham and Lexi Hilton, and midfielders Anastasia Swallow, Brooke Flaherty and McDonough helped keep the ball in the Scots’ end.

Sawchuck, LaQuerre and forward Gabriella Cardona put the pressure on, forcing penalty corner after penalty corner.

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On the fourth corner, McDonough fed Sawchuck, who swatted it in, tying it at 22:35. Sawchuck’s strategy is simple.

“Just hit it as hard as I can and shoot for the corners,” she said.

On the Stags’ seventh corner of the half, it was a replay: McDonough to Sawchuck, score, at 25:30, for a 2-1 halftime lead.

“Just a quick hit to (Sawchuck) and a drive on goal,” McDonough said.

The Stags had eight penalty corners in the first half to none for the Scots.

“Those corners changed the momentum of the game,” Bonny Eagle Coach Caterina Riitano said. “I know that Sawchuck has an amazing drive.

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“That, right there, was the turning point.”

The Stags piled it on early in the second half. LaQuerre maneuvered into a score at 3:22. Then Sawchuck got free and unleashed her shot for goals at 6:29 and 10:49.

Nicole DeMedio of Bonny Eagle scored with 46 seconds left, but soon the Stags were celebrating their historic win.

“It feels amazing,” Sawchuck said.

It might not have felt so good for the Scots, but Riitano didn’t lose sight of her team’s accomplishments after a 3-3 start this year.

“They did amazing to be a seventh seed and to make it all the way here,” Riitano said.

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While the Stags will be playing their first state title game, they will be facing tradition-rich Skowhegan. The Indians will be playing in their 10th straight championship game. Skowhegan won eight consecutive titles before Scarborough beat the Indians last year.

 

Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at: kthomas@pressherald.com

 

Kevin Thomas does not always write about baseball. It just seems that way, starting with his early days covering spring training for the St. Petersburg Times, to his current role of bi-locating at both...

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