With a slew of freshmen taking the field for Thursday’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference high school field hockey opener against Messalonskee, Brunswick coach Rebecca Costa’s hopes for her squad were to learn from the experience of playing one of the conference’s elite teams.
Messalonskee’s 8-0 victory certainly showed the youngish Dragons (0-1) what it takes to be successful.
“It’s tough anytime you play a team like Messalonskee, but especially the first game with six freshmen on varsity, which is a big jump for them from playing in middle school to high school,” said Costa, who will run her team through a Monday evening practice before facing another tough challenger at home in Cony on Tuesday. “It was an eye-opener for them, but important to see competition like that during a rebuilding year. They won’t see teams like this all season, and hopefully we will rise to the challenge as we move forward.”
Messalonskee set up shop in the Brunswick defensive zone throughout the majority of the first half, getting quality scoring opportunities from Kylee Knight, Brooke Quirion, Ally Leighton and University of North Carolina-bound Kristy Bernatchez, who used her speed and relentless pressure to set up several chances in front of Dragon goaltender Sydney Escoe.
The Brunswick netminder turned away the first 13 shots she saw before Knight converted a feed from Bernatchez 7:35 into the game for a 1-0 Messalonskee lead.
Providing support for Escoe were Brunswick defenders Olivia Roy, Taylor Godbout, Samm Clark and Michelle Ingram. Several times in the first half, the Dragon defense turned Messalonskee shots away from the goal line to keep the contest close.
“Down there, we are trying to keep our sticks on the ground and keep the ball out of our goal,” said Roy. “ Keeping out of Sydney’s way is something else we work on. They had a ton of shots on goal today, and we did what we could.”
“I tell our defense ‘it’s either going to go in or they will get a penalty stroke,’ and I have told them if you get called and they get a penalty stroke, that gives Syd another chance to make the save,” said Costa. “Our defense stayed tough and tried to minimize the shots from many of their key players.
“Sydney is a fantastic goaltender for us, All-Conference last season, but she knew this was going to be a tough game for us today, but she hung in there and made a lot of great saves.”
Messalonskee doubled its lead when Bernatchez fired home a pass from Leighton with 15 minutes remaining until halftime, and nine minutes later the Eagles’ lead was 3- 0 thanks to a goal from Quirion.
After outshooting the hosts 29-0 in the first half, the Eagles wasted little time in putting this one away, getting three goals in the first 9:35 of the second half for a 6-0 edge. Bernatchez fired a laser high under the crossbar, while Lynnae Luettich and Sydney Gagne tallied one goal each.
Brunswick managed its only two shots with 10 minutes remaining. Lillian Kjellman started a nice rush down the right wing before putting a shot on Messalonskee netminder Abby Roberts (two saves). Grace Rabinowitz picked up the rebound, but her try was also turned aside by Roberts.
Goals by Bernatchez, her third of the contest, and Leighton completed the scoring and the 8-0 Messalonskee victory.
The Eagles held a 47-2 shot advantage and 10-0 edge in penalty corners.
Escoe had 39 saves.
Messalonskee 8, Brunswick 0
At Brunswick High School
Messalonskee — 3 5 — 8
Brunswick — 0 0 — 0
Goals — (M) Kylee Knight, Kristy Bernatchez 3, Brooke
Quirion, Lynnae Luettich, Sydney Gagne, Ally Leighton.
Assists — (M) Kristy Bernatchez, Ally Leighton, Kylee
Knight, Nikki Cloutier.
Shots on goal — Messalonskee, 47-2.
Saves — (M) Abby Roberts 2; (B) Sydney Escoe 39.
Penalty corners — Messalonskee, 10-0.
Records — Messalonskee 1-0, Brunswick 0-1.
Next for the Dragons — Tuesday at home against
Cony, 4 p.m.
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