TOPSHAM

Thursday’s “Battle of the Bridge” high school field hockey contest between Mt. Ararat and Brunswick, like most battles between the two schools, was close throughout.

In the end, the Eagles scored a pair of second-half goals to break a scoreless tie for a 2-0 win in Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference play.

The win keeps the Eagles unbeaten at 5-0, while the Dragons fell to 2-3.

“We knew this was going to be a tough game,” Mt. Ararat coach Krista Chase said. “I thought this was a really good Brunswick team with some athletic players.”

Mt. Ararat took the first crack at trying to push a goal across. Eight minutes into the game, the Eagles received their first penalty corner. Holly Temple was able to get a shot off, but her blast went wide of the net. A couple of minutes later, Wyley Fitzpatrick drove the net, only to have Brunswick goalie Ainsley Harrower kick the ball away for the save.

Later in the frame, the Eagles threatened to score off one of their six first-half penalty corners. Temple once again hit a hard ball the went just wide.

With three minutes on the clock, the Eagles had their best opportunity to score, only to be turned away by Harrower and the Dragon defense. Fitzpatrick was able to put a pair of shots on goal during a scrum in front of the net, but Harrower (five saves) denied her attempts and the ball was cleared.

The half ended in a 0-0 tie, with the Eagles putting four shots on goal, which Brunswick failed to register a shot. Mt. Ararat held the advantage in penalty corners, 6-1. Both coaches went into the halftime break telling their players they need to play better.

“We have a specific strategy we’ve been working on the last six weeks,” Brunswick coach Karin Paquin said. “We are a quick passing five-yard team, as we stay in diamonds and move the ball around quickly, and today we held on to it too long.”

“I told them we need to start playing with heart, as we came out flat,” Chase said. “We have to develop a sense of urgency in front of the net. We are skilled, but we need to figure out in terms of finding the net and how we’re going to do that.”

Brunswick opened the second half with a little more pep. The Dragons possessed the ball, creating opportunities in front of the cage and getting multiple penalty corners, but were unable to capitalize.

“Our forward lines weren’t on pads like they should be. They were giving the goalies so much room to work,” the Brunswick coach said. “We were missing our posts, which is too bad because we missed two beautiful passes that could have been goals.”

At 18 minutes, Chase called a timeout and reminded her players of adjustments they can make.

“We picked up the pace, as I felt like initially Brunswick was beating us to the ball,” the Eagles coach said. “At the timeout, I told them we need to figure that out, maybe get a different mindset. It’s not something you can really coach, it’s something they have to feel and want. They made that adjustment and started going for the ball, winning some of those 50/50 balls, one-on-one battles, and it made a difference.

At 16:30 the first difference reaped the benefits. Temple took a pass from Brea Holtet and drilled it to the back of the cage for the goal.

“We had a little pep talk during the timeout. A lot of our hits go to me and I was just thinking ‘goal, goal, goal.’ We had something like three or four corners before that and coach was saying ‘you have to look at the goal before shooting,’ so I took deep breaths and got a good shot off,” Temple said.

The score remained 1-0 deep into the half. With less than four minutes remaining, Temple hooked up with Fitzpatrick for the Eagles’ second score. Temple pushed the ball inside the circle for Fitzpatrick, where the junior did the rest, beating Harrower.

“We’ve been practicing that play a lot in practice. I knew we needed an insurance goal,” Temple said. “When I passed it off I wasn’t sure, but then popped out Wyley and she got the score.”

“She’s a smart player, she sees the field well,” Chase said of Temple. “Our best plays are up the sideline with Holly and Wyley. When they’re not connecting, it’s tough on our offense. Today it worked out.”

For Brunswick, the Dragons will look at what they need to do to change the results, but don’t have much time as they host Mt. Blue today at 4 p.m.

“We’re getting better and better, but we need to turn it around quickly as we play Mt. Blue at home on Friday,” added Paquin

Mt. Ararat 2, Brunswick 0

At Mt. Ararat Middle School

Goals — (MtA) Holly Temple, Wyley
Fitzpatrick.
Assists — (MtA) Brea Holtet, Holly
Temple.
Shots on goal — Mt. Ararat 7,
Brunswick 0.
Saves — (B) Ainsley Harrower 5, (MtA)
Emma Lapreziosa and Lily Schenk 0.
Penalty corners — Mt. Ararat 8,
Brunswick 5.
Records — Mt. Ararat 5-0, Brunswick
2-3.
Up next for the Dragons — Friday at
home against Mt. Blue, 4 p.m.
Up next for the Eagles — Saturday at
Cony, 10 a.m