YARMOUTH

Last year, Juliana Tardif was plowing her way through the field hockey competition at Freeport Middle School.

As a freshman, Tardif decided to head south to North Yarmouth Academy, winners of three of the past four Class C state titles.

The move has certainly paid off early, as Tardif netted two goals in a 3-0 Western Maine Conference seasonopening victory over Freeport in a high school contest on Wednesday.

After the contest, she hugged several of her former middle school teammates at Freeport before joining her new Panther teammates for a post-game celebration.

“It has been amazing for me to play with these experienced girls, and they have each taken me in and treated me so well,” said Tardif. “We had some good passes, and me being stationed low on the post and anticipating helped me put in the rebounds. It was a lot of fun.”

Freeport (0-1), which was originally slated to host the opener instead of playing on North Yarmouth’s fast turf field, is slated to host Waynflete in its home opener on Friday at 11 a.m.

“NYA has the advantage for sure on turf, and it was tough for us to transition from grass and play at a much faster pace,” said Falcons coach Sara Dimick. “ We knew that we had to defend well to have a chance, and we did that for the most part. We just have to work on our passes to get better before playing Waynflete (1- 0) on Friday.”

Tardif staked NYA to a 1-0 lead just 1:50 into the contest, banging home a rebound of a shot by Olivia Madore. The Panthers controlled the first half, outshooting Freeport 6-1, but Falcons netminder Tallie Martin turned away five shots, and the defense of Megan Peacock, Reiley Parker, Emily Sturtevant, Bethany Bellefleur and Lorin Martens stood tall to keep the game close.

“I knew our defense would be strong this year, and they have learned quickly to play together well and use the field,” said Dimick. “ The only problem I saw is that we were marking them with three girls on one of theirs, and that left others open down low.”

Moments after Freeport nearly tied the game on a nice opportunity by Hannah Williams, Tardif doubled NYA’s lead when she punched the ball past Martin after a penalty corner with 20: 44 remaining. Defenseman Jen Brown, also of Freeport, assisted on the goal.

NYA continued to attack, scoring the final goal with 3:53 remaining as Madore earned her second assist when Marlina Poole pushed a shot across the goal line to complete the 3-0 victory.

Freeport did a good job limiting NYA penalty corners chances, holding the potent Panthers to just three. Martin turned aside 12 shots, including several from game- long standout Madore. Carly Lappas of Durham and Meaghan O’Leary of Topsham also played for NYA.

On the offensive end, Freeport managed just six shots on NYA goaltender Elizabeth Coughlin. The Falcons had one penalty corner and were often stymied by the defense of Freeport native Abby McKelvy.

“ I am pleased with the effort today, especially on defense,” added Dimick. “We did some nice things against a very good team, and I feel confident if we continue to improve we will do well as we move forward.”

NYA 3, Freeport 0

At Yarmouth
Freeport — 0 0 — 0
NYA — 1 2 — 3
Goals — (NYA) Juliana Tardif 2, Marlina Poole.
Assists — (NYA) Jen Brown, Olivia Madore 2.
Shots on goal — NYA, 15-6.
Saves — (F) Tallie Martin 12; (NYA) Elizabeth
Coughlin 6.
Penalty corners — NYA, 3-1
Records — NYA 1-0, Freeport 0-1.
Next for the Falcons — Friday at home against
Waynflete, 11 a.m.