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YARMOUTH — Stuck in a hole the likes of which it had never been before, the Cheverus field hockey team found a way back to the state championship game.

Brooke Brunelle scored with 3:58 left in overtime after Joey Pompeo tied the game in the closing minutes of regulation, and No. 1 Cheverus returned to the Class A title game with a 3-2 victory over No. 2 Biddeford in the South final Thursday at Yarmouth High School.

Cheverus, which extended its unbeaten streak to 53 games, will face North champion Skowhegan on Saturday at Lewiston High School. It’ll be the fourth state championship game between the two schools in the last five seasons.

The Stags (16-0-1) never led until the very end and trailed for more than 50 minutes of regulation. But they’re back in the state final for the fifth straight year, and Pompeo didn’t waste words explaining how they got back there.

“Heart,” she said. “Simple answer, but serious. Heart.”

Pompeo, a senior captain, scored the goal that sent the game to overtime. Brunelle, a freshman, ended it after leading a rush toward the net with Pompeo on her left. Biddeford goalie Mariah Villandry came out to challenge, but Brunelle flicked a shot past her, and the Stags are one win away from a third consecutive state championship.

“It was definitely a high. … I didn’t even know what to think in that last goal, I just hoped it was going to go in,” Brunelle said. “We really had to fight it out. It was all about heart.”

There’s that word again. The Stags needed to show plenty of it after Biddeford (13-2-2), eager to get over the Cheverus hurdle after a tie and a loss this year and regional final defeats the previous two seasons, struck for a pair of goals in the opening minutes.

Corinne Ramunno had a shot deflect off the right post that kicked right to Emily Hussey, who knocked the ball in with 11:22 to play in the first quarter. Just over four minutes later, Rachel Lagasse hit a shot from outside the circle that Addison Barrs redirected with her stick, putting Biddeford up 2-0.

“We’ve been practicing being a little more … inside our circle, (having) a sense of urgency and then capitalizing and being able to score first,” Tigers coach Caitlin Tremberth said.

Cheverus coach Andrea Musante called timeout for a quick course correction.

“A team shows who they are when they’re down. We are not down a lot,” she said. “I didn’t see any panic. I just saw a bunch of girls who knew what they had to do.”

From there, Cheverus dominated play, eventually racking up 10 corners to Biddeford’s one. The Stags’ midfield shut down the Tigers’ attempts to counter, with Pompeo breaking up one possession after another and turning them into Cheverus attacks.

“I think she’s the best player in the state,” Musante said.

The Stags just needed goals. They got one with 12:31 to go in the second quarter. Brunelle had a shot that hopped through the Biddeford defense, and Jaylee Radford knocked it in to cut the margin to 2-1.

The Tigers were minutes from hanging on when, off the ninth Cheverus corner, Pompeo took Ava Martin’s insert, dodged Biddeford flyer Mia Mariello and drilled a shot that found the back of the net with 4:22 left in regulation.

“I was like, ‘Just shoot. Beat the first defender and shoot,'” Pompeo said. “The coaches were yelling at me, they’re like, ‘It’s yours, it’s yours.’ They believed in me.”

Soon after, the comeback was complete, and Biddeford was left thinking, as Tremberth said, “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve” again.

“It just feels like a broken record,” Tremberth said. “It is getting old. … It’s hard. One of these times, we’re going to beat them.”