WATERBORO — For the past few seasons, Westbrook has been a bogeyman for the Massabesic field hockey team.

The Blue Blazes eliminated the Mustangs from the playoffs a season ago, 1-0, and have come out on top in each of the past four meetings between the schools, with the last three all decided by one-goal margins.

All of which made Monday’s matchup between the two not just a good early season barometer for the Mustangs, but a small chance at some retribution, one they took with aplomb despite a shaky start.

After falling behind early 1-0, Massabesic got a first-half goal from Logan Provencher and then dominated the second half, scoring twice off penalty corners in a seven-minute period to finally beat the Blue Blazes 3-1.

“We’ve always wanted to beat them, especially since last year,” said Provencher, who also assisted on Emma Desrochers’ game-winning tally. “They’ve always been our rivals so it was really nice to beat them today. “We definitely wanted to beat them finally, so it felt good.”

The victory moves Massabesic to 4-1, while Westbrook, beset by a rough early season schedule, falls to 2-3.

“The seniors hadn’t beaten Westbrook, and they’ve knocked us out of the playoffs twice. So it was nice to beat them,” said Massabesic coach Michele Martin-Moore.

“We beat them in the summer league, so it wasn’t a matter of can we today, it was a matter of will we. It was good to see them step up and do what they could do, in the second half anyway.”

The first half was a slightly different story, with Westbrook getting a shot off on Massabesic keeper Abby Greenleaf in the first 30 seconds and having the better of the play for the first 15 minutes.

It paid off with 12:42 to play in the half, when after causing a turnover the Blue Blazes’ Micaela LeBeau made a run down the right side and into the Mustang’s defensive circle. Greenleaf came out of her cage to make a stop, but LeBeau sent the rebound across the goalmouth to an open Abby St. Clair for an easy tap in.

Westbrook then had two chances to add to the lead in the following minutes, twice just pushing shots wide of the goal and forcing Martin-Moore into a timeout.

“We weren’t communicating,” Martin-Moore said. “We were just were playing in slow motion and they were beating us to the ball. It wasn’t our style of play.

“I told them that if they didn’t start playing it could get ugly, and not in a good way.”

Martin-Moore got the message across, and 40 seconds after the restart her team grabbed an equalizer when Alex Staples won a battle with Samantha Clark and sent a pass towards the front of the net.

The ball found Provencher surrounded by three Westbrook defenders, but she found enough room to get a shot off that beat goalie Nicole Miranda.

“It was pretty important to score at that time,” Provencher said. “I just saw the goal, it was open so I shot.”

The 1-1 score line carried until the 13th minute of the second half, when Massabesic converted a penalty corner into a goal as Provencher took Maggie Redman’s pass at the top of the circle and smacked a shot towards goal. Desrochers got a nick on to it, deflecting the ball past Miranda for a 2-1 Mustangs lead.

“I was just hoping somebody would put their stick on it, and Emma did,” Provencher said.

Westbrook was able to create it lone chance of the half soon after, when a counter move put St. Clair in alone on Greenleaf, but she sent her shot just wide.

And with 9:35 remaining the Mustangs’ had a two-goal cushion thanks to another penalty corner that ended up in a scrum in front of net. Miranda came out to kick the ball, but Jackie Guillemette was able to flick the rebound over to Mira Kuni, who flipped her shot over a down Miranda for Massabesic’s third.

“That’s an advantage,” Martin-Moore said of the corners, of which Massabesic had 11 of compared to Westbrook’s three. “If you can’t score off an advantage you’re hurting. It was good to see our corners picking up.”

Miranda made seven saves in the losing effort, while Greenleaf made five stops to pick up the win.

The Mustangs will look to go to 5-0 on Wednesday afternoon when they head to Waterhouse Field to take on Biddeford (2-2) at 3:30.

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323.