TOPSHAM

“Nice job! Oh, my God! That was awesome!”

Mt. Blue High School’s second year field hockey coach Jody Harmon was simply overwhelmed with her charges’ latest effort.

The Cougars, fresh of a 7-0 loss to Skowhegan, wiped out deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 Tuesday with a 3-2 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference overtime win over host Mt. Ararat.

The Cougars, who dominated play in the second half, needed a goal by Krista McLatchy (assisted by Emilee Eustis) with 11:20 left in regulation to force the 7 vs. 7 overtime.

There, Victoria Newbill and Mikayla Oswald helped set up Leah St. Laurent on the far side and the freshman calmly one-touched the ball for the game-winner with two minutes remaining in the first eight-minute, sudden-victory overtime.

“The Skowhegan game (7-0 loss last week) was crazy and we knew we had to get back into the swing of things,” said Newbill, a junior forward. “We know how good we are and we know that we’re a high-level team.

“We had to get this win and get our minds back into it. It seems like they always score a goal first and we lose our minds for a second. And, we know we have to come together as a team. Like, ‘what do we want? We have to get that win!’ And, we just have to keep coming back with intensity. The biggest thing we have to do is go to the ball … whoever beats them to the ball is the team that is going to win. And, in the end we had that.”

“I tried a little regrouping maybe a little too much,” said Harmon of her initial strategy to move players around. “Obviously, it wasn’t working and we weren’t jelling.

“So, I decided to back to our original lineup. And we started to pull it together.

“Our biggest thing is getting ourselves going (early),” added Harmon, whose 2-1 charges now host Bangor on Thursday. “We’ve got to utilize our attacking. They’re starting to come and it’s a work in progress. The biggest things that we’re working on are footwork and passing. They’re seeing that they don’t have to work so hard when they pass.”

Eagles score first

Mt. Ararat, which had been outscored 12-0 in two previous losses, wasted little time getting one on the board.

The ever-present Carly Raymond, a game-long standout at right wing, picked up a loose ball and streaked by a Mt. Blue defender. She got the ball inside the circle where Caitlin LaFountain rammed the far side of the net just four minutes in.

“They do a good job of playing together,” said Mt. Ararat coach Kelly LaFountain. “They’ve been playing together forever and they do a good job playing off of each other.”

A minute late, Newbill just missed wide left from in close.

However, with 15:47 remaining in the first half, Mt. Blue’s Hannah LeClair emerged from a goalmouth scramble to notch the score on a play started by the scrambling Newbill.

Mt. Blue defenders Hannah Deon, Kyrie Harnden, Taylor Hollingsworth and Kayle McLatchy, et al, did a nice job on clears and cutting down passing lanes.

Although Mt. Blue began taking control in the second half, the Raymond-to-LaFountain duo worked its magic once again as Mt. Ararat took a 2-1 lead with 14:50 left.

Krista McLatchy’s late goal gave the Cougars new life and goaltender Raleigh Blanchet made a big save in traffic down the stretch.

“I told them (her players) that the biggest thing that I saw was our marking defensively in the circle,” said Kelly LaFountain. “I think that on all three goals they scored there were people wide open. So, that’s what we have to work on.”

Mt. Ararat dipped to 0-3 and is scheduled to host Skowhegan on Saturday.