Marshwood senior standout Hannah Costin fights her way past Scarborough senior Victoria Timm during the teams’ season opener Thursday night. Costin scored three times and the Hawks went on to a 4-1 victory.

Mike Strout photos.

More photos below.

SCARBOROUGH—Scarborough’s field hockey team rarely loses.

Almost never to Marshwood.

And not for 13 years in a season opener.

But Thursday evening at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex, the Red Storm ran into an elite individual and a very good Hawks team and as a result, for the first time since 2003, Scarborough started the year with a setback.

Marshwood senior midfield standout Hannah Costin put on a show, scoring twice in the first half to give her team a comfortable lead.

With 22:37 to go, Hawks sophomore Celine Lawrence added a goal to seemingly put it away, but the Red Storm got on the board seven minutes later, as junior Lauren Topchik gave her team hope.

Costin then squashed it, capping her hat trick and for just the second time this century, Marshwood solved Scarborough, going on to a 4-1 victory.

“We got owned,” said Red Storm coach Kerry Mariello. “We took a knockout punch. That’s what we were dealt. They’re an outstanding team, obviously. We made a lot of mistakes and they outplayed us in every category.” 

One sided

While Marshwood has been competitive in recent seasons, the Hawks hadn’t been able to solve the Red Storm, who came into play Thursday winners of 16 of the 17 meetings between the programs dating to 2001.

Last fall, Scarborough opened with a 2-0 victory over Marshwood in South Berwick.

The Red Storm went on to a 12-2 regular season, edged Falmouth in a thrilling quarterfinal, then were ousted by eventual regional champion Thornton Academy, 2-0, in the Class A South semifinals. Scarborough had its three-year regional championship run ended, but believes it can get back to the top this fall.

The Hawks went 10-3-1 in 2015, but after beating Gorham, 2-1, in the Class A South preliminary round, were ousted by Thornton Academy, 2-1, in the quarterfinals. Marshwood also expects to be in the hunt this autumn.

Thursday evening, under pleasant 75 degree skies, the Hawks made a strong opening statement.

The first good chance of the game resulted in the first goal as Costin got the ball up near the top of the circle and whacked a backhander that eluded Scarborough junior goalie Sam Carriero for a 1-0 lead with 16:17 remaining in the half.

“Getting the first goal was huge,” said Costin. “That set the pace of the game. We just had to make sure to stay with it.”

Four minutes later, Marshwood almost doubled its lead as Lawrence set up sophomore Leah Glidden, but Glidden’s one-timer went just wide.

Costin made it 2-0 with 9:48 left in the half, this time showing her stickwork instead of her power, weaving through a pair of defenders, racing in on the left baseline, then sending a shot past Carriero and just inside the far post.

“I can’t really take credit for any of it,” Costin said. “It was mostly the forwards. If they hadn’t touched the ball and moved their defenders, I wouldn’t have had open hits. When I saw the goal, I just whacked it.” 

“There’s not a whole lot you can do with a player like that,” Mariello said. “It’s a speed factor and speed wins. She has speed, poise, composure and execution.” 

Mariello called a timeout with 6:59 remaining and 36 seconds later, the hosts had their lone good scoring chance of the first half, but a backhanded bid from junior Cat Taylor sailed just wide.

The Hawks didn’t sit on their lead in the second half.

With 22:37 to play, Lawrence got in on the fun, scoring off a corner to make it 3-0.

That handed Scarborough its biggest deficit since it lost the 2013 Class A state final, 4-1, to Skowhegan.

The Red Storm gave their fans something to cheer about with 15:21 showing, as senior Kristen Levesque set up Topchik for a goal, cutting the deficit to 3-1.

Had Scarborough scored again, anything would have been possible, but after Marshwood senior goalie Shannon Giblin cleared away a corner, Costin ended all doubt.

With 5:42 to play, Costin got the ball on the right side, took a couple touches, then fired a blast that Carriero had no chance to stop and that brought the curtain down on the Hawks’ 4-1 victory.

“It’s incredible,” Costin said. “It’s almost like a championship game to come in here and beat them. We continued to play like it was 0-0 the entire time.”

The setback was Scarborough’s first in a season opener since Sept. 5, 2003 (a 5-2 home loss to Massabesic in Mariello’s second season).

“The only good thing I can say is that it’s early,” Mariello said. “We have a lot to work on. We made some critical mistakes on our few offensive opportunities. They took advantage of theirs.” 

Step two

Marshwood looks to stay hot Saturday when it welcomes South Portland in its home opener.

“This is a huge boost of confidence,” Costin said. “We don’t want it to go to our heads, but it’s definitely better than starting off with a loss.”

Scarborough will seek its first win when it plays at Massabesic Saturday at high noon. Next week, the Red Storm host Deering and go to Gorham.

Look for Scarborough to quickly return to form.

“We have another really big game and we’ll see how we respond to that,” Mariello said. “It’s a humbling feeling, it’s not something we’re used to. It’s the end (of the season) that matters. We’ll bounce back.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.

Scarborough junior goalie Sam Carriero keeps a close eye on Marshwood sophomore Melanie Dube.

Scarborough senior Cara Reynolds races up the field as Marshwood senior Alexis Tworkowski gives chase. 

Scarborough senior Kristen Levesque is defended by Marshwood sophomore Morgan Hasty.

Scarborough junior Rachel Paradis and Marshwood senior Mallory Nadeau battle for the ball.

Scarborough senior Liz Callahan tries to get past Marshwood senior Andrea Longtin.