Erica and Elisha Dorso have been rock solid for the St. Dom’s field hockey team.
By Bob McPhee
Staff Writer

AUBURN – There’s no way to downplay how important sisters Erica and Elisha Dorso have been to the Saint Dominic’s field hockey team the past few seasons.

Erica, a senior, earned a strong reputation as an offensive stalwart as a rookie and Elisha followed suit with a solid freshman campaign in 2002. The siblings are currently playing along side each other on the Saints forward line and enjoying it immensely.

“There is not a rivalry between us at all,” Elisha said.” We work together. We don’t try to be better than each other because there is no point. We work together as sisters and as teammates.”

The duo holds down high profile positions and have demonstrated the skills necessary to succeed. This is also a testimony to the talents of the rest of the Saints’ players.

St. Dom’s (8-0) has been kingpin for the previous two-plus years in Class C of the Western Maine Conference. The Saints are two-time defending champions and haven’t lost a regular-season game since 2000. The lone setbacks have been against Hall-Dale in the regional final the last two years.

Interestingly, the Dorsos live in Farmingdale (where Hall-Dale is located) with parents Harry and Lynn. Both players started playing field hockey in the Augusta Recreation Department.

“I started playing in sixth grade,” Erica said. “What drew me to the sport was actually the fact that I had been playing ice hockey since I was eight. The two sports are similar, so I decided to try it. I had played soccer originally.”

Erica has scored 74 goals in three seasons, including 17 goals so far this year. She has been named to the WMC All-Star squad all three years and earned All-State honors last year. Elisha has scored 10 goals this season. She scored 17 goals and 15 assists as a freshman and was named WMC honorable mention.

The Dorsos recently combined for 17 points in a game against Poland.

“When I am on the field, I’m strictly concentrated on field hockey and nothing else,” Erica said. “I love playing with my sister, it’s not something you see everyday. My sister and I basically work together and feed off of each other. We make an excellent team and I am so lucky to have her as a part of our team and get the opportunity to play with her. We always give each other advice at home about the games, which helps out a lot and only makes us better.”

Elisha was fortunate to have her older sister involved in field hockey.

“Watching Erica was a great influence on me,” Elisha said. “Just by watching her, I had learned so much, not to mention she had made the sport look ten times more fun to play. So, I decided to try it out, and thank God I did because I absolutely love to play the game.”

The sisters both agree a huge motivation is the fans that come to watch the game and there’s one particular who stands above everyone.

“Our dad has never missed a field hockey game,” Erica said, who plans to play field hockey and study sports medicine in college. “No matter where it is he is always there. It is rare to find a devoted parent like that who motivates you so much.”